The last time the Democratic Party of Virginia fielded more Congressional candidates then the Republican Party of Virginia was 1998. Back then Democrats still controlled a 6-5 edge in the Congressional delegation.
The Republicans ability to find more candidates to run, even in tough districts is a great example of a stronger party.
So far this year the trend seems to be softening. The GOP has candidates in ten of the eleven districts, while the Democrats have them in nine of eleven.
The 6th Congressional District, running from Roanoke through the Valley is the most egregious example of the Democratic Party. Bob Goodlatte has not faced major party opposition since 1998. Democrats again this year have yet to find a candidate, and if they fail to do so, Goodlatte will go unopposed until 2008, a full decade without a Democratic candidate.
No time in the last decade have both parties found candidates in all eleven districts, so 2006 could be a historic election for competition if Republicans in the 3rd District, and Democrats in the 4th and 6th get their act together.
Congressman Goodlatte might be the quietest, most low profile member of the Virginia delegation, yet he seems to be the safest. Interesting.
Posted by: Will Vehrs | April 29, 2006 at 08:30 AM
Hard to get lower profile than Frank Wolf, but the difference is: he is in NoVA and Goodlatte is in the middle Shenandoah Valley. Democrats barely exist there.
Posted by: Valleyite | April 29, 2006 at 09:44 AM
As a resident of the Sixth, and a member of the Democratic Sixth District committee last year, I would like to offer the following defense of why Goodlatte has no competition:
Posted by: Adam Sharp | April 29, 2006 at 04:19 PM
Valleyite there are some state Democrats in the 6th, after all Tim Kaine won Harrisonburg, Lynchburg, Staunton, Buena Vista, Lexington, Alleghany, Covington, and came close in Rockbridge.
Posted by: asmith | April 29, 2006 at 08:39 PM
asmith, Kilgore got 53% in the 6th in the poorest performance by a GOP in recent history.
Thats also a state election year.
Federal automatically jacks up the GOP numbers.
Posted by: GOPHokie | April 30, 2006 at 04:08 PM
That may be true, but there are some Democrats there. That's all i'm saying. Tim did win those localities. Did you check out my responses to your redistricting stuff?
Posted by: asmith | May 01, 2006 at 12:08 PM