Perriello certified winner

By Brian McNeill

Published: November 25, 2008

Democrat Tom Perriello of Ivy was certified as the winner Monday in his race against six-term incumbent Virgil H. Goode Jr., R-Rocky Mount.

The Virginia State Board of Elections confirmed Monday morning that Perriello won the Nov. 4 election with 158,712 votes, compared with 157,967 votes for Goode — a relatively small margin of 745 votes.

“I’m truly honored and humbled by this step,” Perriello said Monday at a Lynchburg news conference. “There is a great sense of closure.”

Goode, however, is not conceding victory. He announced Monday that he intends to request a taxpayer-funded recount today in Albemarle County Circuit Court.

“A lot of people have asked me to ask for a recount, so we’re going to ask for a recount,” Goode said in a conference call with reporters.

Under Virginia law, a losing candidate may request a taxpayer-funded recount if the vote margin is less than 0.5 percent. In the case of the 5th District race, Perriello has a lead of 0.23 percent.

Each of the district’s 21 localities — including Charlottesville and the counties of Albemarle, Buckingham, Fluvanna, Greene and Nelson — will have to finance the recount. Goode said he does not plan to help defray the cost. An estimated cost for the recount could not be determined Monday.

The results of a district-wide recount might not be known until around mid-December.

A recount is unlikely to shift the vote tally by a significant margin. A statewide recount in the 2005 attorney general’s race moved only 37 votes out of 1.94 million cast.

A change in Virginia law after the 2005 recount requires that all paper ballots be included in recounts. When asked if he expects the change to make a tangible difference in this recount, Goode replied: “I can’t say, but I hope it does.”

Goode did not strike an overly optimistic note as he called for a recount.

“It’s an uphill battle,” he said. “Any recount is an uphill battle. I wouldn’t give it specific odds, but the one that’s ahead is generally favored.”

Perriello, a national security consultant and founder of faith-based initiatives, said he is moving forward with his transition into office, despite Goode’s decision to seek a recount.

“Given how these things roll, we don’t believe there’s any serious chance of the results changing,” Perriello said.

Last week, Perriello attended freshman orientation for new members of Congress. He said Monday that he is working to get the choicest committee assignments possible, preferably ones that would offer him the greatest chance to focus on workforce and economic development issues.

A cornerstone of Perriello’s campaign was a promise to revitalize the economy of the 5th District, which includes places such as Martinsville, which has the highest rate of unemployment in Virginia.

Perriello said he managed to unseat Goode — a longtime fixture of Virginia politics — by presenting a superior plan for improving the economy and bringing jobs back to the district.

Perriello was one of two Democratic congressional candidates in Virginia who unseated a GOP incumbent on Nov. 4. Glenn Nye, a Democrat from Hampton Roads, defeated two-term incumbent U.S. Rep. Thelma Drake, R-Norfolk, with 52 percent of the vote. A third Democratic candidate, Gerry Connolly of Fairfax, won the seat of retiring U.S. Rep. Thomas M. Davis III, R-Vienna.

The Democrats were elected as part of a Democratic wave, led in Virginia at the top of the ticket by President-elect Barack Obama and U.S. Sen.-elect Mark R. Warner.

Goode said he believes that the Obama campaign’s massive voter turnout, particularly in Charlottesville and Albemarle County pushed Perriello over the top. He also lamented that Perriello and outside groups spent more money than his campaign on the race. As of Oct. 15, Perriello’s campaign had spent $1.4 million on the race, while Goode’s campaign had spent $1.1 million. The Democratic National Campaign Committee spent roughly $644,000 on TV ads in the race, much of it in the campaign’s final days.

“Given the climate, I think we were fortunate to do as well as we have done,” Goode said.

Goode said it is “way too early” to decide if he will run against Perriello again in two years, assuming the recount does not switch which candidate won in this year’s race. He has not yet made a decision about what he will do if he has been defeated.

“There are plenty of things to do,” he said. “I’ll be thinking of that after the first of the year.”

If the recount shows Perriello won, Goode said, he will concede.

“If it turns out he won, I will congratulate him and wish him well.”