Virginia's 5th congressional district election, 2010 was an election held to determine who would represent

Virginia's 5th congressional district Virginia’s fifth congressional district is a United States congressional district in the commonwealth of Virginia. The district is based in Southside Virginia and is heavily rural in character. It is Virginia's largest district with an area of ...

in the

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during the

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. The candidates were incumbent

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

Tom Perriello Thomas Stuart Price Perriello (born October 9, 1974) is an American attorney, diplomat, and politician. As of January 2021, Perriello is the executive director for U.S. Programs at the Open Society Foundations. Perriello ran for in the United S ...

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

state Senator A state senator is a member of a state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. Description A state senator is a member of an upper house in the bicameral legislatures of 49 U ...

Robert Hurt and Independent candidate Jeffrey Clark. Hurt narrowly defeated Perriello in the general election, 51% to 47%, with Clark receiving 2% of the vote.

Background

The seat being contested is located in Central and

Southside Virginia Southside, or Southside Virginia, has traditionally referred to the portion of the state south of the James River, the geographic feature from which the term derives its name. This was the first area to be developed in the colonial period. Duri ...

. The district covers all or part of 18 counties and all of 4 independent cities, making it Virginia's largest district with an

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of - . larger than

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. The 5th district has been represented by Democratic representative Tom Perriello since the 2008 election result, when he defeated Republican incumbent

Virgil Goode Virgil Hamlin Goode Jr. (born October 17, 1946) is an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 5th congressional district of Virginia between 1997 and 2009. He was initially a Democrat, but be ...

by 727 votes, one of the closest elections in the nation. The 5th congressional district was traditionally a conservative Democratic district. Incumbent Virgil Goode left the party to become an independent in 2000, and then a Republican two years later. In his 2008 defeat of Goode, Perriello out-performed the Democratic national ticket in the district, which Republican presidential candidate

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two terms ...

carried by 51% to 48%. In the previous two presidential elections

George Bush George Bush most commonly refers to: * George H. W. Bush (1924–2018), 41st president of the United States and father of the 43rd president * George W. Bush (born 1946), 43rd president of the United States and son of the 41st president Georg ...

won by 56% and 55%. Goode did not seek a rematch against Perriello, although he said several

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groups asked him to run on a pro-

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ticket, due to their dissatisfaction with the Republicans. Assembly line worker Bradley Rees filed to run as a Republican, then stated he would run on the Virginia Conservative Party ticket, and then suspended his campaign in 2009.

Republican primary

Hurt won the Republican nomination a seven-way primary on June 8, 2010, with results: * Robert Hurt,

State Senator A state senator is a member of a state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. Description A state senator is a member of an upper house in the bicameral legislatures of 49 U ...

, 48.42% * James K. "Jim" McKelvey, from Franklin County, 25.89% * Michael G. McPadden, 9.78% * Kenneth C. Boyd,

Albemarle County Albemarle County is a county located in the Piedmont region of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Its county seat is Charlottesville, which is an independent city and enclave entirely surrounded by the county. Albemarle County is part of the Charl ...

Supervisor, 7.37% * Feda Kidd Morton, educator and Republican activist, 4.59% * Laurence Paul Verga, private real estate investor, 2.26% * Ron L. Ferrin, businessman, 1.64%

Candidates

, Democrat, incumbent U.S. Representative * Robert Hurt, Republican,

* Jeffrey Clark, Independent

Polling

General election results

References

External links

Race ranking and details
from

CQ Politics Congressional Quarterly, Inc., or CQ, is part of a privately owned publishing company called CQ Roll Call that produces a number of publications reporting primarily on the United States Congress. CQ was acquired by the Economist Group and combined ...

Campaign contributions
from

OpenSecrets OpenSecrets is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that tracks data on campaign finance and lobbying. It was created from a merger of the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) and the National Institute on Money in Politics (NIMP). ...

Race profile
at ''

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'' ;Official campaign sites
Feda for Congress

Ferrin for Congress

Hurt for Congress

McKelvey for Congress

McPadden for Congress

Perriello for Congress
incumbent
Verga for Congress

Video: Perriello supporter gets violent
{{United States general elections, 2010 2010 Virginia elections