Virginia's 8th congressional district election, 2010

Virginia's 8th congressional district election, 2010

November 2, 2010

Candidate Jim Moran Patrick Murray Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 116,293 71,108 Percentage 61.01% 37.31%

Virginia's 8th congressional district

Representative before election Jim Moran Democratic Elected Representative Jim Moran Democratic

Elections in Virginia
Federal government Presidential elections 1788-89 1792 1796 1800 1804 1808 1812 1816 1820 1824 1828 1832 1836 1840 1844 1848 1852 1856 1860 1872 1876 1880 1884 1888 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 Presidential primaries Democratic 2008 Republican 2008 2012 U.S. Senate elections 1922 1924 1928 1930 1934 1936 1940 1942 1946 1948 1952 1954 1958 1960 1964 1966 1970 1972 1976 1978 1982 1984 1988 1990 1994 1996 2000 2002 2006 2008 2012 2014 U.S. House elections 1920 1922 1924 1926 1928 1930 1932 1934 1936 1938 1940 1942 1944 1946 1948 1950 1952 1954 1956 1958 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1970 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 Special elections U.S. Senate, 1920 U.S. Senate, 1933 U.S. Senate, 1946 U.S. Senate, 1966 1st congressional district, 2007
State government Gubernatorial elections 1851 1855 1859 1863 (Confederate) 1863 (Union) 1869 1873 1877 1881 1885 1889 1893 1897 1901 1905 1909 1913 1917 1921 1925 1929 1933 1937 1941 1945 1949 1953 1957 1961 1965 1969 1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2009 2013 2017 Lieutenant Governor elections 2013 2017 Attorney General elections 2005 2013 2017 House of Delegates elections 2009 Other elections 2007 2009 2011 2013
Ballot measures 1970 1972 1974 1976 1977 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2010 2012 2014 2016

Virginia's 8th congressional district election, 2010 was an election held to determine who would represent Virginia's 8th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives during the 112th Congress. The seat contested is located in Northern Virginia, and includes part of Fairfax County, the city of Alexandria, and the entirety of Arlington County. The 8th district had been represented by 10-term Democratic incumbent Jim Moran since 1990. Moran was re-elected to an eleventh term in the November 2, 2010 general election with 61% of the vote.^[1]

Background

Former mayor of Alexandria and Democratic incumbent Jim Moran had won the 8th congressional district in every election since 1990. The district usually favors Democratic candidates, and was won by Al Gore in 2000, John Kerry in 2004, and Barack Obama in 2008 by margins sometimes approaching twenty points. Moran has defeated every Republican challenger in similarly large victories.

One Democrat, Ronald Mitchell, filed to challenge Moran for the Democratic nomination and raised over $9,000,^[2] but failed to collect the minimum number of signatures required to be placed on the ballot^[3] and Moran was nominated.^[4] The Republican Party nomination was contested by attorney and former Federal Communications Commission general counsel Matthew Berry and retired U.S. Army Colonel Patrick Murray.^[5] Several other candidates had announced their intent to run, including 2008 nominee Mark Ellmore, but they all dropped out at different times, leaving the race to Berry and Murray. Murray narrowly won the June 8th Republican primary by a margin of 52%-48%.^[6][7]

Independent Green candidate and retired U.S. Navy Captain Ron Fisher was also on the ballot in 2010.^[8] He took two percent of the popular vote in 2008, and received 2,700 (1.41%) in 2010.^[9]

Candidates

Democratic nomination

• Jim Moran, 10-term incumbent U.S. Representative
• Ronald Mitchell, failed to collect enough signatures to force a primary with Moran.^[3]

Republican nomination

• Matthew Berry, attorney and former general counsel of the Federal Communications Commission.
• Patrick Murray, retired U.S. Army Colonel.
• Mark Ellmore, the Republican nominee in 2008, announced in November 2009 that he would challenge Moran again. He dropped out of the race in March 2010 and supported Murray.^[10]
• Laurence Socci, dropped out of the race prior to the April filing deadline and supported Berry.^[11]
• Will Radle, left the race before the April 9 filing deadline. Briefly considered running as an Independent, before supporting Murray.^[11]

Results

Polling

General election

Campaign

The 8th district election received national attention in October 2010 because of remarks Moran made at a meeting of the Arlington County Democratic Committee on October 6, 2010:

"What [Republicans] do is find candidates, usually stealth candidates, that haven’t been in office, haven’t served or performed in any kind of public service. My opponent is typical, frankly."

Murray told the Daily Caller that the comments insulted veterans and active duty armed service members. "To say military service isn’t public service is startling verbiage," Murray said. "For someone who sits on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee to disparage military service is amazing to me". Moran's campaign responded in a press release that "The point Congressman Moran was making is that Northern Virginia is a region that prides itself on local civic engagement – serving in the PTA, on local boards, working with non-profits to help those less fortunate and also serving in elected office. Because Murray has virtually no ties to our community – moving here a scant 18 months ago in order to run for Congress – it is difficult to see how he can adequately represent Northern Virginia".^[13]

Moran defended his performance as a member of congress, saying in an interview with The Washington Post that "The message is that our unemployment rate is half what it is in the rest of the country. We've been judged the best place to ride out the recession... We have the strongest economy in the country, so we don't want to do a whole lot different than what we've been doing." He also attacked his opponent's views on social issues; saying that Murray's opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage was "out of the mainstream in Northern Virginia".^[14]

Polling of the campaign suggested that Moran would win in every instance, but the Murray campaign remained hopeful; an internal polling showed Moran leading with 32.3 percent compared with Murray’s 29.7 percent. 30.5 percent were shown to be undecided. A September 22 poll conducted by McLaughlin & Associates found Moran’s support at below 50 percent, with only 42 percent of those polled rating him as good or excellent and 41 percent rating him as fair or poor. "Although he currently leads Patrick Murray on the ballot for U.S. Congress, his favorable rating, job rating and vote share fall short of the thresholds for strong incumbents," pollster John McLaughlin wrote in a memo to the Murray campaign. "Given voters’ dissatisfaction with Jim Moran’s performance as congressman and the current mood of the electorate, Jim Moran is one Democrat incumbent that could be unseated in November."^[13]

Fundraising

Results

Moran easily won reelection on November 2, 2010; despite Republicans taking over the House of Representatives and several other Virginia Democratic incumbents losing their races. In his victory speech Moran said that "The politics of divisiveness and fear have gained ground on hope. We can make no mistake: the next two years are going to be very difficult". Moran also took a few final jabs at his defeated opponent, saying that the combined “lack of civic engagement” and “extremist Tea Party views” doomed Murray's candidacy.

Patrick Murray left open the possibility of another run in his concession speech: "We fought the best fight that's ever been fought in a very tough district, I think what we have here is a huge movement. So what we did is built a foundation, and we'll be back."

References

External links

• VA - District 8 from OurCampaigns.com
• Race ranking and details from CQ Politics
• Campaign contributions from OpenSecrets.org
• Jim Moran's Record

Official campaign sites

• Jim Moran for U.S. Congress (D)
• Patrick Murray for U.S. Congress (R)