Del-elect Ron Villanueva (R)
Posted on 12/14/2009 9:03:48 PM PST by csvset
It’s final. Republican Ron Villanueva is the winner of the 21st House District seat after a recount Monday.
Villanueva, a city councilman, increased his margin of victory over incumbent Democrat Bobby Mathieson by two votes after all the ballots were rechecked.
In the end, Villanueva received 7,674 votes, and Mathieson got 7,658.
“I feel elated,” Villanueva said Monday night. “It was exciting to see the process in action.”
Mathieson, who asked for the recount, said his camp was aware going in that a different outcome was unlikely with so many ballots cast electronically and the chances of finding mistakes minimal. But it’s important for democracy that every ballot is counted, Mathieson said.
The recount cost Virginia Beach taxpayers $6,340.
Mathieson said he would not challenge the results.
“It ends today,” he said in a news conference in front of the courthouse steps.
Mathieson, a former police officer and one-term state representative, said he hasn’t ruled out running for public office again.
“We’ll see what lies ahead,” he said. “Public service is in my DNA.”
Political insiders had always expected the 21st District race to be close. Mathieson and Villanueva spent $942,653 combined on the election, making it one of the 10 most expensive House races in Virginia this year.
Still, the 16-vote margin surprised some in a year when Republican candidates swept into state office by wide margins in most of Virginia.
Unlike some of the other Republicans, Councilman Villanueva had a record of votes and decisions that could have affected voters’ decisions, said Gary C. Byler, Villanueva’s attorney for the recount and a state Republican Party official.
“The moral of the story is that every vote counts,” Byler said.
Deirdre Fernandes, (757) 222-5121, deirdre.fernandes@pilotonline.com
There's your recount Rats. How does that crow taste?
Republican Villanueva wins over incumbent rodent VA State House member... by 16 votes !
Glad to hear it.
Wow, thanks for the ping! OK, moms and dads of college students...get those absentee ballots in — they obviously matter! Please allow me to copy something from the Virginia page here —
Fairfax County has a special election on January 12 to fill Ken Cuccinelli’s state senate seat and an open seat on the Fairfax County School Board in Mason District. Both GOP candidates are solid conservatives: Steve Hunt and Samantha Vanterpool Rucker. Please check their websites and see if there’s any way you can help them win:
http://www.samantharucker.com/
It looks like we won every close one in VA and in the NY suburbs. That’s quite different from 2006 and 2008 (when it seemed that all the close ones went the other way.
We previously held the 21st (Virginia Beach) prior to the ‘07 election. I don’t rightly recall why the prior incumbent Republican Delegate, John Welch, lost to Mathieson (and by an embarrassing 58-42% margin), beside the fact the district had (in ‘05) gone for the Dem statewide candidates, but he still won that year unopposed (and by a substantial number of votes).
It’s sure nice to have it back. Especially since it’s the Virginia Beach seat.
Mathieson also got hit by this, too, right after the election (which may very well have contributed to his loss). The comments below the article are priceless...
http://hamptonroads.com/2009/11/exmathieson-aide-charged-embezzlement
Tell that to Senator-Select Al Franken. We're still waiting for every vote to be counted here in Minnesota.
Del-elect Ron Villanueva (R)
On an unrelated note, I notice the Kroger ad at the Virginian-Pilot Online wishes readers a “Merry Christmas.” Refreshing!
Oh, we also had lost another VA Beach seat in ‘07 when Republican Leo Wardrup stepped down (the 83rd). Dem Joe Bouchard won the open over Ken Stolle’s son, Chris, by a heartbreaking 131 votes (51-49%), but Chris Stolle sought a rematch this year and obliterated Bouchard by a 60-40% margin this time (Stolle got nearly double the votes he did in ‘07).
BTW, do we have the official breakdown for the numbers for the 2010-11 session for the VA House ?
I don’t know the totals but in searching, I did find this quote from Sabato:
In picking up the extra seats, the Republicans virtually lock in their control of House legislative affairs for the next 10 years, said Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political science professor.
http://hamptonroads.com/2009/11/republicans-boost-dominance-among-va-delegates
And that a Democrat filed today to challenge the Republican for the Stolle seat although he concedes it’s a safe GOP district.
Will check more tomorrow...
Even a blind Republican finds an ACORN every once in a while ... LOL
Suck eggs DEMs !!!
Sabato, why is it that liberal is always consulted ? Surely there are other more balanced political analysts in VA who exist. He wants redistricting to be done by an “independent” (read: leftist) panel. Hopefully the GOP will be as ruthless for the next round of redistricting as they were a decade ago. ;-D
And finding ways to cheat were minimal...
In VA the rats only won 2 races that were within 2 points they held their open seat vacated by their AG loser by 350 votes and one of their incumbents in Fairfax county (who had no GOP opponent in 07) won by 200 votes.
Was their a recount anywhere that led to a rat steal? I haven’t heard of any. A bit surprising.
One of the Virgina seats we won is the district where my uncle lives. Republican Tag Greason beat a 2 term rat in a landslide despite (or because of the backlash maybe) some sex scandal (that he whipped it out in front of a staffer years ago) that was apparently trumped up by the rats and led to lots “ho ho we can call this one safe democrat now” type comments.
“Was their a recount”
Damnit.
61 Republicans
37 Dems
2 Independents
At least one of the Independents caucuses with the GOP.
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