Posted on 12/22/2015 4:47:21 PM PST by Clintonfatigued
Rep. Robert Hurt, R-Pittsylvania County, will retire in 2016, according to Republicans familiar with the congressman’s thinking.
A former member of the Virginia General Assembly, Hurt was first elected to Congress in 2010, defeating Democratic Rep. Tom Perriello. He represents Virginia’s sprawling 5th District, which includes Bedford and Franklin counties in its run from the North Carolina line to the Northern Virginia exburbs.
Hurt’s retirement was first reported on Twitter by Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics.
Hurt’s decision came as a surprise to many Republicans in the state. He had not given any public indication that he planned to leave office after three terms, and he has regularly won re-election by wide margins. While some Democrat candidates have come within striking distance here since Perriello’s narrow 2008 victory, the sprawling district has gone to Republicans.
(Excerpt) Read more at roanoke.com ...
Time for Virgil Goode to make a comeback.
The announcement may not come until after New Year’s Day. It’s a solid district, so we don’t need to play it safe. We can get a Tea Partier with name recognition to run, preferably someone who already holds elective office.
Virgil Goode will be 72 on election day of that year. A younger conservative would be a better choice IMHO.
He could easily serve three more terms and retire by 78. We don’t need to be electing people who will be settling into a twenty or thirty-year (or longer) career. Almost no one currently in office remain unspoiled after 6 years.
State Senator Jill Vogel is a potential candidate. I’d like to learn more about her.
He’s my rep. Sorry to see him go. He’s been a reliable conservative voice. This is a mostly rural conservative area (went big for Romney in 2012) so should be a safe seat for most any Republican. No excuse for losing this one.
I also noticed State Sen. Mark Obenshain’s district overlaps the north end of Hurt’s 5th, although his hometown is in Goodlatte’s 6th. I’d rather see he go for a rematch with the execrable Mark Herring for AG (and I believe that race was stolen) or jump outright to Governor (since Ed Gillespie is just another RINO Establishment creature).
Your district?
“Ed Gillespie is just another RINO Establishment creature”
Who nearly (actually did I’m sure) beat an entrenched Senator. Rep. Rob Wittman is also running for Governor.
Odd to see Mark Herring running for reelection, I may have thought LTs and AGs were also limited to 1 term. ***king scumbag. I’d like to see Obenshain rematch him.
Only Governor is limited to one consecutive term. Lt Gov & AG can get two consecutive terms. It’s smart (for the Dems) not to have Northam and Herring face off for an internecine battle, since that can result in an ugly loss in the general (as we’ve seen in prior years). If Herring wins again, he’ll run for the open Governorship in 2021.
If were Obershain I’d have been going around the past few years calling myself the AG-elect. Sickening theft, ala Dino Rossi.
165 votes out of 2.2+ million. Very fishy, especially given polls showed Obenshain would win that race by a small margin even as Cuccinelli and Bishop Jackson were coming up short.
Northam is a dull speaker and a plodding campaigner. If the GOP can’t find someone who can beat him, they need to throw in the towel. Wittman isn’t a bad choice, but I would prefer to see someone like Congressman Randy Forbes as the nominee.
I’m surprised Cuccinelli isn’t attempting another run. If McDonnell hadn’t turned out to be corrupt and Bolling a weasel helping to undermine him for the general (before we get to the usual Dem chicanery), he would’ve won.
Senator Tom Garrett is a great conservative with a very good Senate voting record. Also a good presenter of liberty concepts in front of any group. He has a lot of Tea Party support and is generally "liked/tolerated" by the GoPe.
I think he is considering running for Governor, possibly Senate, or depending on who is elected President...
Of course, McAwful broke the 40-year curse (meaning he became the first person of the same party in the White House since Mills Godwin in 1973 to win the Governorship), so all bets are off now. One reason I expect the GOP to win it back in 2017, even with President Trump.
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