Edited by Chris Graham
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Jim McKelvey announced on Thursday that he will run for the Fifth District Republican Party congressional nomination – after flirting with the idea of running as an independent.
“I am running in order to bring a new voice to the party,” said McKelvey, a Moneta-based real-estate developer, in a statement released by his campaign.
In the statement, McKelvey confirmed that “friends, community leaders and fellow citizens have urged me to run as an independent. I, like them have become alarmed at how our political leadership has abandoned them and their conservative principles, and are no longer responsive to their needs,” McKelvey said.
The Republican primary in the Fifth will be held on June 8.
The winner will face Democratic incumbent Tom Perriello in the November election.