That safe congressional seat over in the Fifth District, running down Route 29 from the outer D.C. exurbs through Charlottesville and Albemarle all the way to the North Carolina border, is sure getting a lot of attention these days.
Last week, it was a poll that has the Democratic nominee, Dr. Cameron Webb, the director of health policy and equity at UVA’s School of Medicine, running neck and neck with the Republican nominee, Bob Good, a former member of the Campbell County Board of Supervisors and former senior associate athletics director at Liberty University.
This week, the news is that Good will get the financial backing of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in the 2020 cycle.
Cruz is backing 25 House candidates during the 2020 election cycle, all in districts that Republicans are seeking to either preserve or take back, as part of the national party’s effort to retake the House.
The effort, coined the “Cruz 20 for 20 Victory Fund,” has Cruz and his team pledging to raise $100,000 for each of the candidates selected.
“I am pleased that Sen. Cruz has chosen to support my campaign and my candidacy,” Good said. “We are aligned on the critical issues facing our nation and we are in agreement that the November election will determine the direction of our country for decades to come. Sen. Cruz is a staunch defender of our constitutional rights and does not waver on his core beliefs, and I am proud to be included in the senator’s 20 for 20 program.”
Good upset the sitting congressman, Nelson County businessman Denver Riggleman, in the June GOP primary, meaning the seat is now technically open.
The Fifth District hasn’t been competitive politically in recent cycles. Democrat Tom Perriello won the seat in 2008, but he lost his run for re-election in 2010, and the closest race since was in 2018, when Riggleman, also running in an open-seat race, after the sitting congressman, Tom Garrett, decided to step down, in the face of allegations that he and his wife had used staffers and interns to run personal errands, defeated Democrat Leslie Cockburn by 6.5 points.
A Global Strategy Group poll out last week has Webb trailing Good by a 44 percent-to-42 percent margin.
Story by Chris Graham
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