The number of Republicans who either plan to run for the seat in Congress left vacant with the death of Rep. Jo Ann Davis or at least considering such a race is growing longer.
One who is running is Chuck Davis, a retired professional firefighter who has never run for elected office but wishes to finish his wife’s work.
And Friday, former Delegate Dick Black announced that he will seek the Republican nomination.
Campaign manager Herb Lux said Mr. Black has rented a house in Fredericksburg so he will have an address in the 1st District, even though candidates are not required by law to live in the district. When Mr. Black represented Loudoun County for eight years in the House of Delegates, he was among the most conservative members of the General Assembly.
One likely to run is David Caprara, who sought the Republican nomination for the same seat in 1996.
Mr. Caprara, a Spotsylvania County party activist and former state Department of Housing and Community Development director, lost a primary challenge 11 years ago to Rep. Herbert Bateman, Mrs. Davis’ predecessor.
A districtwide Republican convention, probably on Nov. 10 or Nov. 17, will determine the nominee, said James Atticus Bowden, the Republican chairman for the 1st District.
The conservative district extends from Warrenton and Dumfries southeast toward Newport News and Hampton.
It is up to Gov. Tim Kaine, a Democrat, to set the date for a special election to fill the vacancy. While Mr. Kaine has not announced a date, state law makes Dec. 11 the most likely date.
Other well-known Republicans are considering a possible run, but have not committed to it, party leaders said in conversations at the beginning of last week. Among them:
• Paul Jost, a wealthy James City County businessman whom Mrs. Davis defeated in a Republican primary in 2000, even with the support of the sitting governor, James S. Gilmore III.
• Theresa Altimus, a member of the Gloucester County Board of Supervisors.
• Delegate Scott Lingamfelter of Prince William County.
• Delegate Jeff Frederick of Prince William County.
• Delegate Rob Wittman of Westmoreland County.
• State Sen. Ryan McDougle of Hanover County.
• Mr. Bowden, an author and conservative blogger in addition to his role as Republican district chairman.
• $1 million man
Former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner raised more than $1 million for his 2008 U.S. Senate campaign in the 2½ weeks after he announced his candidacy, according to federal reports filed last Monday.
From Sept. 13, when Mr. Warner announced his candidacy, to Sept. 30, he raised $1.1 million, according to papers his campaign filed with the Federal Election Commission.
The popular Democrat spent about $92,000 over the same period establishing his campaign committee and had $1 million on hand at the start of October.
Mr. Warner is running for the seat of Sen. John Warner, a Republican who is retiring after five terms.
A victory by Mark Warner would give Democrats both of the state’s U.S. Senate seats in the Republican-leaning state for the first time since 1970. The two Warners are not related.
Mark Warner has no Democratic opponent. Republicans have voted to choose their nominee next June in a statewide convention. Former Gov. James S. Gilmore III and U.S. Rep. Thomas M. Davis III have expressed an interest in the nomination.
Slightly more than 1,100 donors contributed in the first 17 days to Mr. Warner’s campaign, his senior adviser, Monica Dixon, said. Only $4,600 of the total came from Mr. Warner’s personal fortune, estimated at more than $200 million.
Mr. Warner was governor from 2002 to 2006, leaving office with a job-approval rating of 75 percent, the highest mark for any parting governor in the 20 years since pollsters began tracking Virginia governors.
But Republicans already have begun criticizing him for leading a legislative battle in 2004 for a restructuring of the state’s finances that increased taxes by about $1.4 billion annually. In his 2001 race for governor, Mr. Warner promised not to raise taxes.
While Republicans have lost only one presidential race in Virginia since 1952, Democrats have won the past two races for governor and last year’s U.S. Senate race with surprising victories in suburbs and some rural areas that Republicans had dominated for years.
• Another in 1st
The race to oust Republican Rep. Wayne Gilchrest got more crowded Tuesday when a former political appointee in the state signed up for the race in Maryland’s 1st District.
Robert Joseph Banks, who worked for the state Department of Transportation under Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. before his appointment to a short term as an orphans’ court judge, became the fifth candidate on the Republican side in the race for Maryland’s 1st District.
Mr. Banks, 38, lives in Baltimore County, not in the 1st District, but he grew up in Cecil County and said he thinks of himself more as an Eastern Shore resident. Congressional candidates are required to live in the state they represent, but not the actual district.
Mr. Banks said he once volunteered for Mr. Gilchrest and generally likes him, but thinks the district needs a change from the nine-term incumbent.
“I think it’s time for a fresh perspective, an independent thinker,” Mr. Banks said Tuesday.
Mr. Banks said he represents a middle-ground alternative to the two main candidates in the Feb. 12 Republican primary — Mr. Gilchrest and conservative state Sen. Andrew P. Harris.
Though Mr. Banks was an Ehrlich appointee, Mr. Harris has the former governor’s support.
There also are two Democrats in the race, lawyers Frank Kratovil and Christopher Robinson.
• Charges dismissed
A Circuit Court judge in Leesburg, Va., last week dismissed all 11 charges against former state Senate candidate Mark Tate, who was accused of campaign-finance fraud.
Special prosecutor Matthew Britton said the case had been tainted by charges of improprieties in the investigation and asked the judge last Monday to dismiss the two election-fraud charges and nine perjury charges.
The judge dismissed the charges without prejudice, meaning that Mr. Britton can try Mr. Tate again. Mr. Britton said he plans to bring the evidence to a new grand jury as quickly as possible.
Mr. Tate, 42, lost the Republican nomination in the 27th Senate District in June.
• Running in 6th
Another candidate added his name to the list of those running next year for Maryland’s 6th Congressional District seat.
Gary Hoover, 49, of Clear Spring, announced last week that he recently changed his party affiliation from Democrat to independent, and that he plans to campaign as an independent.
Mr. Hoover works as a finance consultant at Hagerstown Ford.
He will need to collect signatures from at least 1 percent of the registered voters in the district — more than 4,000 — to get on the ballot.
The seat is held by Republican Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, who is seeking a ninth term. Three other Republicans and three Democrats also are running for the seat.
• Dollars for Hillary
Marylanders have given about $966,000 in the third quarter to the presidential campaign of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, her campaign reported last week.
That was the most reported by a candidate in the third quarter in the state. Sen. Barack Obama, Illinois Democrat, reportedly raised about $493,500 in Maryland.
Mrs. Clinton, New York Democrat, has raised nearly $3 million in Maryland since her campaign began.
• This column is based in part on wire service reports.
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