5th District Congressional Race Called “Toss-Up”

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2020

5th District Congressional

Race Called “Toss-Up”

Several political experts are calling the race between Republican Bob Good and Democrat Cameron Webb for the 5th District congressional seat a toss-up.

University of Mary Washington’s Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, Stephen Farnsworth, points to the failure of Republicans to renominate incumbent Rep. Denver Riggleman and the “lingering bitterness over the process among some Republicans” that he says has created an opportunity for Democrats.

“The district was drawn to elect a Republican,” Dr. Farnsworth said this week. “And it wouldn’t be close if Republicans had re-nominated the incumbent.”

While he said that in these very partisan times to expect little split-ticket voting, he predicted that “at least some Riggleman supporters might not be as interested in voting, given the way the congressman was treated by his fellow Republicans.”

Farnsworth said Webb “is fortunate he is running as a Democratic nominee in 2020, which is a tough year for an incumbent president and for the Republicans who support him.”

The University of Virginia’s Center For Politics is also calling the race a toss-up.

Miles Coleman, the associate editor of professor Larry Sabato’s “Crystal Ball” said he believes some of Riggleman’s supporters will either write in the congressman’s name or “maybe even leave the house race blank.”

He said these Republicans view Good as “an arguably weaker candidate” than Riggleman would have been and that Good “thinks just because this is a red district at the top of the ticket, that’s going to carry him.”

Coleman said they are also calling the race a tossup because Webb is making a good case “trying to fashion himself as sort of a centrist democrat” convincing business people and farmers he will help lower their taxes.

“That's not a message you hear often from Democrats,” he said. “It could be the lean of the district could save Bob Good, but we think if everything goes right for the Democrats, Webb may have a chance as well.”

Coleman points out that while he believes President Trump will win the 5th, “even in 2008 when it voted for [Republican presidential candidate John] McCain by a few points, it still sent Tom Perriello to Congress as a Democrat.”

The Cook Political Report also calls the race in the 5th a toss-up, changing its outlook from “lean Republican.”

The 5th District, which stretches from Fauquier to the North Carolina border, has elected three Republicans in a row since Perriello lost to Robert Hurt in 2010. Tom Garrett was elected in 2016, followed by Riggleman in 2018.

The district’s first congressman, in 1789, was James Madison.

Virginia’s fifth congressional district is a United States congressional district in the commonwealth of Virginia. It is Virginia's largest district with an area of 10,181.03 square miles (26,368.7 km²) and is larger in area than six US states (Vermont, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware, and New Hampshire).

The 5th District contains counties located in the Piedmont and Blue Ridge Region stretching vertically across the state from the Virginia-North Carolina Border going 250 miles up to Fauquier County in Northern Virginia, West of Washington DC.

The district’s first representative in Congress was James Madison, who defeated James Monroe in the district's first congressional election. Madison and Monroe would go on to serve as the 4th and 5th Presidents of the United States.

Historically, the 5th was one of the first districts of Virginia to turn Republican in Presidential elections – though unlike the 6th where the decisive factor was ticket-splitting by Byrd Organization Democrats, here the decisive factor was the growth of middle-class Republicanism in the Charlottesville metropolitan area.

In the decade preceding the Voting Rights Act, these were joined by a significant proportion of Virginia’s limited and almost entirely white electorate who preferred conservative positions on black civil rights.

The district was to be one of two in Virginia giving a plurality to segregationist George Wallace in 1968, and has never supported a Democrat for President since Harry S. Truman.

However, the district was continuously represented in Congress by fairly conservative Democrats until Virgil H. Goode, Jr. switched parties, first to independent and then to Republican. In 2008, Democrat Tom Perriello defeated Goode with significant Democratic down-ballot coattails from the Obama campaign.

Republican Robert Hurt defeated Periello in 2010, going on to serve three terms. Republican Tom Garrett was elected in 2016 and served one term. Currently, the district is represented by Republican Denver Riggleman, elected 2018.

Hunt Country Trunk Show

Coming To The Plains

October 22nd & 23rd

At Baileywyck Antiques

New York - The custom clothiers who dressed the anchors of ESPN’s Monday Night Football last season — all to their exact sizes —are coming to The Plains this month to unveil their new hunt country men’s collection.

Rick Hindin, co-founder of Britches of Georgetowne and legendary custom suit designer Mark Rykken, who teamed up to start Britches Bespoke at Rockefeller Center three years ago, will be at Baileywyck Antiques in The Plains on October 22 and 23 to introduce their new “Clothing For Life” in one of Virginia’s best antique stores.

Rykken, who worked at Washington’s venerable Britches for 18 years and updated its classic clothing collections went on to partner with legendary fashion designer Alan Flusser, will be showing visitors the new hunt country line and taking measurements for clients who want to order the bespoke clothing.

The trunk show will take place both days from 11am until 6pm and will feature The Britches Bespoke Silhouette, or “house style,” an updated version of the iconic London Drape Cut invented over 80 years ago on Savile Row by the personal tailor to the Duke of Windsor.

Hindin and Rykken say they are following in the footsteps of the Britches brand strategy of lifestyle merchandising with integrity and quality at reliably reasonable prices.

“Designing and tailoring custom “Clothing for Life” raises the bar in the luxury apparel business,” Hindin says. ‘This is a whole new way to think about custom tailoring,”

Unlike most custom tailors, Britches Bespoke offers its clientele full custom wardrobing services for all aspects of their lives.

“The idea is to give those who love or aspire to wear custom clothing the opportunity to create and assemble wardrobes that uniquely reflect their individual and personal taste.” Rykken says.

In addition to the totally handmade collections of Bespoke clothing, Britches Bespoke offers two tiers of Made to Measure clothing and accessories.

They include Bespoke’s updated classic custom dress and work attire, custom outerwear, custom footwear, custom shirtings, belts, ties, slacks, sportswear, and rainwear.

With New York shutdown due to Covid19, Britches Bespoke set out to take their unique ideas about custom clothing service directly to customers through trunk shows like the one coming to The Plains.

Hindin and Rykken thought it would be good to have the show in the epicenter of Hunt Country giving that the new designs were formulated for horsemen and fox hunters.

Lisa Vella, owner of Baileywyck Antiques, agreed to have the show right in Baileywyck, the 4,500 square foot hunt county antiques collection.

A New Yorker for over 20 years, Rykken’s designed and made custom clothing for New York’s fashion elite.

He called Hindin “a legendary figure in the men’s apparel industry for having created and co-founded the iconic brands Britches of Georgetowne, Britches Western, Britches Great Outdoors and now Britches Bespoke.”