6/14/00 11:50 a.m.
First District Democracy
Conservative wins primary despite Virginia Governor.

By Ben Domenech, NRO contributing editor---------------btdome@wm.edu

he volunteers awaiting the results from Virginia's First Congressional District Republican primary were tired, but energetic. Turnout in the district was in their favor, and the crowd, mostly families with children, is wavering towards nervous anticipation of a good result for their candidate, State Rep. Jo Ann Davis.

Soon the news starts to trickle in — they were knocking down Davis signs in Westmoreland, says one campaign worker. Davis was going to have a tough time taking Accomack County, said another. But the mood was optimistic, and when the numbers started coming from the precincts, there were claps and whoops of joy in Andrea's Italian Restaurant. The news, it turns out, was very good; Davis took the district with nearly 36% of the vote, winning by more than 2,000 votes in a five-way race.

Davis, a smiling mother and businesswoman who has a strong conservative grassroots following, had waged an uphill battle in this campaign against multimillionaire Paul Jost, who poured more than $1.2 million into the race, and had recently been endorsed by Virginia governor Jim Gilmore. Jost, however, had been attacked in recent weeks for his liberal views on social issues and for his controversial tenure on the College of William and Mary's Board of Visitors. And despite running on a relatively minuscule five-digit budget, Davis still managed to beat Jost by an impressive 6 percentage point margin. “Despite the Governor's endorsement, it's clear that democracy still works in the First District,” said Republican Chairman Roger Pogge. “Nobody can just step in and buy our votes, with money or endorsements. They aren't for sale. And Jo Ann's victory sends that message, loud and clear.”

Mike Rothfeld, a political consultant, placed third in the race with 22% of the vote. Endorsed by Eagle Forum's Phyllis Schlafly and the Leadership Institute's Morton Blackwell, Rothfeld had run a rowdy campaign, with several over-the-top attacks on Jost. Just last week, the Rothfeld campaign mailed a flyer with a photo of two men kissing on the front page, with the headline, “Jost's Vision for Virginia,” alluding to the businessman's support of gay rights.

“It's clear that Rothfeld acted as a spoiler in this race,” said one activist. “It was tough to predict, though, whether he'd pull enough votes away from [Davis] to give Jost the edge, especially after the Governor got involved. Gilmore riled things up a lot more than he expected.”

The normally conservative Gilmore's endorsement surprised many in the district, since Davis had long been a supporter of the governor's agenda in the State House, and her candidacy represented a chance to put an outspoken Republican woman in Congress. The seat, which is solidly Republican, is being vacated by eighteen-year Congressman Herb Bateman; it's widely agreed that Davis is likely to have a cakewalk victory in November. “I'm just planning on getting through tonight, before I start worrying about the general election,” said Davis. “I'm not packing for Washington quite yet.” Davis supporters, perhaps caught up in the energetic aura of an emotional victory, were more outspoken.

“Gilmore can stick this in his eye,” yelled one volunteer as he high-fived a campaign worker. “And you can quote me on that!”