The Democratic Party lieutenant governor field is now one candidate smaller. “As I have worked these past months to communicate my message to voters, I have also had an opportunity to learn more about the three colleagues who were also seeking the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor. While all three are good people, over time I became convinced that Mike Signer is a true talent whose ability to communicate about issues that matter to real people is unmatched in the remaining field,” said Pat Edmonson, who on Friday dropped out of the race and threw her support to Signer, 36, a former deputy counselor to Mark Warner and senior strategist on Tom Perriello’s improbable 2008 Fifth District congressional upset win.
Edmonson, a member of the Virginia Beach School Board, said in her announcement on Friday that she had filed the necessary paperwork to run for the Democratic Party nomination in the 82nd House District. Blog reports have thrown that candidacy into question, and a report in the Times-Dispatch in Richmond suggested that she may also be considering a run in 2011 against Republican State Sen. Ken Stolle.
The most recent polling in the Democratic Party lieutenant-governor race had Edmonson, Signer and Russell County Board of Supervisors member Jon Bowerbank all trailing former Secretary of Finance Jody Wagner significantly, though more than half of the likely primary voters surveyed had yet to make up their minds.
Both Edmonson and Signer had specifically targeted progressive voters in their campaigns. The move by Edmonson to throw her support to Signer could thus make him the alternative to Wagner, who like Bowerbank appears to be reaching out more to general-election voters in the center.
– Story by Chris Graham
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