2005 Virginia Attorney General election

Last updated

2005 Virginia Attorney General election
Flag of Virginia.svg
←  2001 November 8, 2005 2009  →
  Bob McDonnell by Gage Skidmore.jpg Creigh Deeds in Arlington, Virginia (cropped).jpg
Nominee Bob McDonnell Creigh Deeds
Party Republican Democratic
Popular vote970,981970,621
Percentage49.96%49.94%
2005 Virginia Attorney General election results map by county.svg
County and independent city results
McDonnell:     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%
Deeds:     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%
     80–90%
Attorney General before election

Judith Jagdmann
Republican

Elected Attorney General

Bob McDonnell
Republican

The Virginia Attorney General election of 2005 took place on November 8, 2005, to elect the Attorney General of Virginia. Jerry Kilgore, who had been elected attorney general in 2001, resigned in February 2005 to run for Governor, as is the tradition in Virginia. He was replaced by Judith Jagdmann, the Deputy Attorney General for the Civil Litigation Division, who did not run in the election.

Contents

The Republican primary was won by State Delegate Bob McDonnell, who defeated attorney Steve Baril. State Senator Creigh Deeds was unopposed in the Democratic primary. McDonnell won the race by 360 votes, which was so close it required a recount. [1] He was sworn in as Attorney General alongside Governor Tim Kaine and Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling on January 14, 2006.

McDonnell and Deeds went on to rematch in the 2009 Virginia gubernatorial election, which McDonnell won by a wide margin.

Republican primary

The primary campaign was a contentious one. [2] Baril accused McDonnell of bypassing campaign finance laws by taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from clients he represented in cases in front of state agencies in his dual role as a "lawyer-legislator". [3] McDonnell replied that the allegations were "baseless". Baril promised to be "the people's lawyer" and was endorsed by Eric Cantor. McDonnell, carrying Jim Gilmore's endorsement, cast himself as an experienced reformer. [4]

Candidates

Declared

Results

Virginia Attorney General Republican primary, 2005 [5]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Republican Bob McDonnell 110,125 65.63%
Republican Steve Baril57,67934.37%
Majority52,44647.62%
Turnout 167,804

Democratic primary

Roanoke State Senator John S. Edwards was to challenge Deeds in a primary fight for the Attorney General Nomination for the Democratic Party of Virginia. Edwards, who had won 30% of the vote in the primary in 2001, was considered a viable candidate, but dropped out due to his tough liberal stances on gay rights. [6] After Edwards' withdrawal, Deeds was the only candidate left in the Democratic primary. Running unopposed, Deeds won 100% of the primary vote on June 14, 2005. [7]

Candidates

Declared

Withdrew

General election

Campaign

Deeds at a rally in Charlottesville Creigh Deeds.jpg
Deeds at a rally in Charlottesville

After securing the nomination due to Edwards' withdrawal, Deeds began positioning himself as a centrist Democrat such as Mark Warner. On June 14, Deeds found out his opponent in the general election would be Bob McDonnell after McDonnell had won the Republican primary. [8] McDonnell, who also positioned himself as a moderate campaigned against Deeds. Throughout early polling, Deeds and McDonnell started the race off tied.

The first poll of the race, conducted by Mason-Dixon showed Deeds at 34% and McDonnell barely ahead with 35% which was inside the margin of error. By the second poll which was also conducted by Mason Dixon, Deeds was behind 33%-36%. Deeds continued to campaign and was endorsed by NARAL in August 2005. [9]

Deeds based his campaign headquarters in Charlottesville, Virginia, which was in his native Senate district. Deeds continued to lag McDonnell in the polls until the endorsement of the NRA. In late September 2005, the NRA unexpectedly endorsed Deeds, the Democrat, over McDonnell. [10] With the new ability to claim himself as a "centrist" Democrat, Deeds had gained much needed campaign momentum.

By late October, Deeds was only 4%-5% behind McDonnell. Heading into early November, Deeds was inside the margin of error with McDonnell, behind 40%-43%. On Election day, it appeared obvious that the race was heading into a recount. Deeds trailed McDonnell by approximately 320 votes.

Polling

Source [11] DateDeeds (D)McDonnell (R)
Mason Dixon November 1–2, 200540%43%
Roanoke CollegeOctober 23–30, 200534%39%
Rasmussen Reports October 26, 200539%43%
Mason Dixon October 18–20, 200534%42%
Mason Dixon September 13–15, 200533%36%
Mason Dixon July 19–21, 200534%35%

For the majority of the campaign, Deeds lagged McDonnell from anywhere between 3%-8%. However, in the final weeks of the campaign, Deeds picked up support due in part because of the NRA's endorsement of him. [12] In the final poll taken by Mason Dixon and released on November 3, Deeds was only 3% behind McDonnell.

Fundraising

Deeds lagged considerably in the fundraising race. On Election Day, according to Our Campaigns, the candidates had the following amount of Cash on hand: [11]

Initial results

Virginia Attorney General General election, 2005 [13]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Republican Bob McDonnell 970,886 49.96%
Democratic Creigh Deeds970,56349.95%

Recount

In late November, the Board of Elections certified Bob McDonnell as the winner by 323 votes. However, Deeds announced he would petition the courts for a recount on November 29. [14] The recount was set to last until mid-December.

The recount started later than expected on December 20, 2005, when both campaigns were allowed to comb through ballots to make any challenges. [15] Despite the fact that it was a recount, very few ballots were actually recounted as opposed to both campaigns making challenges to hand-fulls of ballot instead.

On December 22, 2005, however, the Board of Elections confirmed McDonnell the winner of the recount by a 360-vote margin. [16] Despite the fact that the race was one of the closest in history, the recount had actually gained McDonnell exactly 37 votes boosting his margin from 323 votes to exactly a 360-vote lead over Deeds. Deeds called McDonnell at 7:15 that night to congratulate him on the victory. [17]

Final results

After the recount, the final certified tally was as follows: [16]

Virginia Attorney General election, 2005 [13]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Republican Bob McDonnell 970,981 49.96%
Democratic Creigh Deeds970,62149.94%
Write-ins1,8010.09%
Majority3600.02%
Turnout 1,943,403
Republican hold

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Bolling</span> American businessman and politician

William Troy Bolling is an American businessman, politician and educator who served as the 39th Lieutenant Governor of Virginia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob McDonnell</span> American attorney and politician

Robert Francis McDonnell is an American politician, attorney, businessman, academic administrator, and former military officer who served as the 71st governor of Virginia from 2010 to 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Creigh Deeds</span> American politician from Virginia (born 1958)

Robert Creigh Deeds is an American lawyer and politician serving as a member of the Senate of Virginia representing the 25th district since 2001. Previously, he was the Democratic nominee for Attorney General of Virginia in 2005 and Governor of Virginia in 2009. He was defeated in both of those races by Republican Bob McDonnell. Deeds lost by just 323 votes in 2005, but was defeated by a wide margin of over 17 percentage points in 2009. He was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from 1992 to 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2009 Virginia gubernatorial election</span> Election for the governorship of the U.S. state of Virginia

The 2009 Virginia gubernatorial election took place in Virginia on November 3, 2009. The incumbent Governor, Democrat Tim Kaine, was not eligible to run due to term limits established by the Virginia Constitution, though others in the state's executive branch were not restricted. Republican Bob McDonnell was elected as Governor as part of a Republican sweep. Republican Bill Bolling was reelected as lieutenant governor, and Republican Ken Cuccinelli was elected as attorney general. The winners were inaugurated on January 16, 2010, and served until January 11, 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2009 United States gubernatorial elections</span>

United States gubernatorial elections were held on November 3, 2009, in the states of New Jersey and Virginia, as well as in the U.S. commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands on November 7, 2009. Both state governorships were previously held by Democrats elected in 2005, and both were won by Republicans in 2009; the local Covenant Party maintained control of the governorship of the Marianas. These elections formed part of the 2009 United States elections. As of 2024, this is the last election after which the Democratic party held a majority of governorships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2009 Virginia elections</span>

The following offices were up for election in the United States Commonwealth of Virginia in the November 2009 general election:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Creigh Deeds 2009 gubernatorial campaign</span>

Creigh Deeds was the 2009 Democratic nominee for Governor of Virginia. He has been a Virginia State Senator since 2001 and was the Democratic Party's nominee for Attorney General of Virginia in 2005. He announced his candidacy for governor on December 13, 2007, in an online video. His primary opposition for the Democratic nomination was former Virginia House of Delegates member Brian Moran and former DNC chairman Terry McAuliffe. Deeds won the nomination by a large margin, taking about 50 percent of the vote in the June 9, 2009 Democratic primary. However, Deeds lost the gubernatorial race held on November 3, to Bob McDonnell, 41.25% to 58.61%.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob McDonnell 2009 gubernatorial campaign</span>

Former Attorney General of Virginia Bob McDonnell was the Republican nominee for the 2009 gubernatorial race in the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. At the Virginia State Convention on May 30, 2009, he officially received the party's nomination, as Republican Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling decided against opposing him. His opponent in the general election was State Senator Creigh Deeds, a Democrat from Bath County. Although the race was close in September, McDonnell began take a commanding leads in the poll heading into election day, when he defeated his opponent by a margin of 18 points. He was inaugurated on January 16, 2010, at the Virginia State Capitol.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2013 Virginia gubernatorial election</span> Election for the governorship of the U.S. state of Virginia

The 2013 Virginia gubernatorial election took place on November 5, 2013, to elect the governor of Virginia. The incumbent governor, Republican Bob McDonnell, was not eligible to run for re-election due to term limits established by the Virginia Constitution. Virginia is the only state that prohibits its governor from serving immediate successive terms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2012 United States House of Representatives elections in Virginia</span> 2012 House elections in Virginia

The 2012 United States House of Representatives elections in Virginia were held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012 to elect the 11 U.S. representatives from Virginia, one from each of the state's 11 congressional districts. Representatives are elected for two-year terms; those elected will serve in the 113th Congress from January 2013 until January 2015. The elections coincided with the elections of other federal and state offices, including a quadrennial presidential election, and a U.S. Senate election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2013 Virginia elections</span>

The following offices were up for election in the United States Commonwealth of Virginia in the November 5, 2013 general election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2013 Virginia lieutenant gubernatorial election</span>

The 2013 Virginia lieutenant gubernatorial election took place on November 5, 2013, to elect the Lieutenant Governor of Virginia. The incumbent Lieutenant Governor, Republican Bill Bolling, had originally planned to run for Governor of Virginia in the 2013 gubernatorial election, but withdrew upon the entry of Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2017 Virginia gubernatorial election</span> Election for the governorship of the U.S. state of Virginia

The 2017 Virginia gubernatorial election was held on November 7, 2017. Incumbent Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe was unable to run for reelection, as the Constitution of Virginia prohibits the officeholder from serving consecutive terms; he later ran unsuccessfully for a second term in 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2013 Virginia Attorney General election</span>

The 2013 Virginia Attorney General election took place on November 5, 2013, to elect the Attorney General of Virginia. The incumbent Attorney General, Republican Ken Cuccinelli, did not run for re-election. He was instead his party's nominee in the 2013 gubernatorial election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2017 Virginia Attorney General election</span> 2017 Virginia Attorney Generals election

The 2017 Virginia Attorney General election was held on November 7, 2017. The incumbent attorney general, Democrat Mark Herring, was expected to run for governor, but announced he would run for re-election instead. As only Herring and Republican John Adams qualified for their respective party primaries, the two automatically became their parties' nominees. In the general election, Herring defeated Adams to win a second term as Attorney General of Virginia. This is the last time that a Democrat was elected Attorney General of Virginia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 United States Senate election in Virginia</span>

The 2018 United States Senate election in Virginia took place on November 6, 2018, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the Commonwealth of Virginia, concurrently with other elections to the U.S. Senate, elections to the United States House of Representatives, and various state and local elections. Incumbent Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, who had been his party's nominee for vice president two years earlier, was re-elected to a second term in office, winning this seat by the largest margin since 1988. This was the first election since 1994 that anyone had been re-elected to this seat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 Virginia lieutenant gubernatorial election</span>

The 2021 Virginia lieutenant gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 2021, to elect the next lieutenant governor of Virginia. Incumbent Democratic Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax was eligible to run for a second term, but instead unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. On November 3, Hala Ayala conceded the race, making Republican Winsome Sears the first black woman to be elected to the lieutenant governorship of Virginia or any statewide office, as well as the first woman elected lieutenant governor in Virginia's history. Sears was also the first Jamaican-American to become a lieutenant governor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 Virginia Attorney General election</span> Election for Commonwealths Attorney General

The 2021 Virginia attorney general election was held on November 2, 2021, to elect the next attorney general of Virginia. Democratic Attorney General Mark Herring attempted to win a third term. Herring initially planned to run for governor, but decided to run for re-election. Herring faced Republican nominee Jason Miyares in the general election. Herring conceded defeat at 5:02 PM EST the following day, November 3. Miyares became the first Cuban-American and Hispanic to be elected to statewide office in Virginia. Miyares was later sworn in on January 15, 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2023 Virginia Senate election</span>

The 2023 Virginia Senate election was held on Tuesday, November 7, 2023, concurrently with elections for the Virginia House of Delegates, to elect senators to all 40 seats in the Senate of Virginia for the 163rd and 164th Virginia Assembly. Nomination primaries held through the Department of Elections were held June 20, 2023. These were the first elections held following redistricting as a result of the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2023 Virginia's 4th congressional district special election</span> Election following death of Donald McEachin

The 2023 Virginia's 4th congressional district special election was a special election to the U.S. House of Representatives that was held to fill Virginia's 4th congressional district for the remainder of the 118th United States Congress. The seat became vacant after incumbent Democrat Donald McEachin died on November 28, 2022, of colorectal cancer. State Senator Jennifer McClellan was declared the victor shortly after the polls closed, winning in a landslide against her Republican opponent.

References

  1. ↑ The Virginia News Letter (February 2006). "Election Recounts in Virginia" (PDF). Retrieved April 5, 2009.[ dead link ]
  2. ↑ http://www.ourcampaigns.com/NewsDetail.html?NewsID=22442 Baril-McDonnell race getting personal [GOP VA Attorney General]
  3. ↑ http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2005/052005/05252005/102144 Archived 2013-11-12 at the Wayback Machine Baril: McDonnell bypassing campaign funding rules
  4. ↑ http://ww2.roanoke.com//news/roanoke/24928.html Archived 2013-11-12 at the Wayback Machine GOP candidates for attorney general trade barbs as primary nears
  5. ↑ Race details at ourcampaigns.com
  6. ↑ The Roanoke Times (March 4, 2005). "Roanoke senator drops statewide nomination". Archived from the original on September 8, 2012. Retrieved April 5, 2009.
  7. ↑ Our Campaigns. "VA Attorney General - D Primary" . Retrieved April 5, 2009.
  8. ↑ Our Campaigns. "VA Attorney General Race - R Primary" . Retrieved April 5, 2009.
  9. ↑ NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia (August 18, 2005). "Naral Pro-choice Virginia Announces Candidate Endorsements for 2005". Archived from the original on January 6, 2009. Retrieved April 5, 2009.
  10. ↑ Washington Post (September 30, 2009). "NRA Backs Dem for Va. Attorney General Race". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 8, 2009.
  11. 1 2 Our Campaigns. "VA Attorney General" . Retrieved April 5, 2009.
  12. ↑ Jenkins, Chris (September 30, 2005). "NRA Backs Democrat For Va. Attorney General". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 30, 2010. Virginia Sen. R. Creigh Deeds, who is running for attorney general, received the endorsement of the National Rifle Association
  13. 1 2 Virginia Board of Elections. "General Election - November 8, 2005". Archived from the original on May 15, 2008. Retrieved April 8, 2009.
  14. ↑ The New York Times (November 29, 2005). "Recount Likely in Attorney General Race" . Retrieved April 8, 2009.
  15. ↑ Morello, Carol (December 21, 2005). "Recount Starts, but Without Va. Ballots". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 8, 2009.
  16. 1 2 The Los Angeles Times (December 22, 2005). "Virginia Recount Verifies Win" . Retrieved April 8, 2005.
  17. ↑ The Washington Post (December 22, 2005). "McDonnell Clinches Attorney General Race" . Retrieved April 5, 2009.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.