Senator Ralph Smith cruised to victory on Tuesday night as did Republican Chris Head, who won easily over Democrat Freeda Cathcart with over 65% of the vote.
Delegate elect Head, in an interview before his victory address, said “it is a little overwhelming.” He was pleased by his margin of victory. “It is extraordinarily humbling to have that much faith in me placed by the voters here.”
Head said he feels the pressure of the “level of expectation” to deliver to constituents wanting results. “I’ve got some pretty stiff marching orders now and it’s time to deliver.”
Creating a climate for bringing jobs to Southwest Virginia will be Head’s priority. “The first thing I will be doing in the coming weeks will be setting a target goal [for jobs]… I don’t know what that is [yet].” He said he would be hashing that out with advisors over the next few weeks. Then will come “a plan for legislative policies to begin to turn those wheels.” He wants that to happen “very, very quickly.”
Answering a question about working across party lines Head said, “We are in a climate right now from the federal government on down that is just so hard-line partisan. In any case, that is appropriate right now because we have listed so far to the left that we can’t afford to give up any more ground. But on the state level there is room for consensus. The bottom line is we can’t give an inch on the core principals that we’ve established as the majority.”
But Head said he will work with regional legislators. “We’ll work together as a legislative delegation – all of us; party is still important, but in many cases there are things that have to be done that have more to do with geography then with party.”
Republican Senator Ralph Smith was also victorious in a contentious race with Independent candidate and former Senator Brandon Bell. Smith won with over 56% of the vote. Congressman Bob Goodlatte introduced the victorious Sen. Smith.
Smith immediately raked The Roanoke Times Editorial Board over the coals. Smith asked, “is there anyone here from The Roanoke Times?” Only the photographer who boldly raised his hand was present. Smith said for him to “put the tar and feathers away.”
“This [race] wasn’t close and shouldn’t have been close,” he said. He blamed the news media for wanting to make it close. “There was such cause perpetrated on this campaign and my reputation that we looked to the media and you did not report … When we made a claim why didn’t [the media] go check it out?”
“The Roanoke Times going through my trash can on my lawn – it is illegal for one thing … You [The Roanoke Times] wrote a story about it and I am upset about it.” When asked later if he planned to take legal action, he hedged saying, “Let’s not go there at this time.”
In response to the negative campaign ads produced by Bell, Steve Mabry, Sen. Smith’s campaign manager, said, “the ads were the most venomous ads I’ve ever seen – it was a personal vendetta against Sen. Smith.”
Not mentioning his opponent by name, Smith said, “when someone spends thousands of dollars calling me a cheat and a liar – now I don’t know about the legalities of it, but I think it should have been exposed – let’s get the evidence out there.”
Smith said he would carry on in the Senate as his past record demonstrates. “If I have more allies we will achieve more things,” he said. Many people campaigned on jobs but “we don’t need any more government jobs … We need private enterprise jobs,” said Smith.
Brandon Bell, in a phone call, said his whole premise was to “ask leaning Republicans to change their behavior and vote for an Independent – that’s a bit of a chore to do.” He said he worked one precinct in Franklin County and said that they didn’t have a clue who either one of the candidates where.
In a phone call to Carter Turner who came in second in a close race for the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors Catawba District, Turner was resigned. He lamented over being called a liberal when he said he was truly an Independent. Turner garnered 31% of the vote in a three-way race, coming in second to incumbent Joe “Butch” Church with 41% of the vote.
Delegate Dave Nutter did not attend the gathering at the Sheraton and did not return a phone call.
Republican Carla Bream lost the Commissioner of the Revenue seat to incumbent Democrat Nancy Horn. Bream, who came in with just under 34% of the vote, said she ran the best possible race she could, though it became contentious with both sides accusing the other of dirty tricks.
Republican Delegate Greg Habeeb in the 8th district was unopposed and was at a Republican caucus in Richmond. In a tweet he said it was a “crazy night.”
Roanoke City Democrat Delegate Onzlee Ware was unopposed, as was Brenda Hamilton for Clerk of Court. In Roanoke County, Sheriff Mike Winston, Commonwealth Attorney Randy Leach and Treasurer Kevin Hutchins were also unopposed.
Republican George Assaid came up short in his bid for Cave Spring Roanoke County Board of Supervisors against Independent incumbent Charlotte Moore. (See article on page 3.)
