Dave Marsden, Jeff McWaters Win Senate Elections
Democrats Gain One Seat in Senate
Dave Marsden, Jeff McWaters Win Senate Elections
January 13, 2010
Virginia Republicans lost one state Senate seat last night but retained another. Democrat Dave Marsden, won a close special election for the Northern Virginia Senate seat of Republican Ken Cuccinelli, and Republican Jeff L. McWaters easily won a special election to fill the seat of former state Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle.
With all 40 precincts reporting, Marsden led Republican Steve M. Hunt, a former member of the Fairfax County School Board, by 317 votes out of 23,569 cast. Picking up Cuccinelli's seat gives Democrats a bit more breathing room in the General Assembly session that starts today. Democrats will now hold 22 seats to the GOP's 18.
SENATE DISTRICT 8 – VIRGINIA BEACH
Senate District 8 includes the oceanfront section of Virginia Beach and stretches south through suburban areas to the city’s rural southern tip. Tourism is the leading industry, and the U.S. Navy is a major presence with hundreds of military and civilian jobs at Oceana Naval Air Station. The 8th District is reliably Republican; Ken Stolle has not even had an opponent since ousting Democrat Sonny Stallings to win the seat in 1991. Bob McDonnell, John McCain, Jerry Kilgore and George Allen all carried the district. Mark Warner is the only Democrat to win here in 15 years. Republican Jeff McWaters is a prohibitive favorite to win the Senate special election January 12.
Jeff McWaters (R)
1207 Laskin Road, Virginia Beach, VA 23451
757-965-3700
Jeff McWaters is a founder and former CEO of Amerigroup Corporation. A native of Kentucky, he attended Paducah Community College and the University of Kentucky and has a degree in accounting. He worked for Ernst and Young, then CIGNA, and finally Value Options, a behavioral health care company, before launching Amerigroup in 1994. He handily defeated a tough competitor, Virginia Beach City Councilwoman Rosemary Wilson, for the GOP nod in early December. McWaters won 63 percent of the vote in a five-hour firehouse primary that attracted 7,600 voters despite heavy rain.
SENATE DISTRICT 37 – SOUTHWESTERN FAIRFAX COUNTY
Senate District 37 is in southwestern Fairfax County, home to AOL and other tech companies clustered around Dulles Airport. Cuccinelli won re-election in 2007 by just 91 votes over Janet Oleszek in a race that saw the candidates spend a combined total of $1.5 million.The District’s population reflects the influx of immigrants to Virginia in general and Northern Virginia in particular. Asians make up 16 percent of the district’s population. Koreans, in particular, are flocking to the Chantilly area. Blacks and Hispanics combine for another 14 percent. Education, median income and homeownership levels here are all way above the state average. The area supported Obama last year with 55%, but backed McDonnell this year by a narrow margin. Warner, Webb and Kaine all carried the district.
Del. Dave Marsden (D)
P.O. Box 10889
Burke, VA 22009
571-249-3037
Delegate Dave Marsden was just reelected in November in a House district that makes up a portion of Senate district 37. Marsden was legislative aide to Republican Delegate Jim Dillard and won Dillard’s seat when the veteran legislator retired in 2005. Marsden switched parties to run as a Democrat and won with 60% of the vote. Marsden spent most of his career in juvenile corrections. He ran the Fairfax Juvenile Detention Center for 17 years before accepting an appointment from Gov. Jim Gilmore in the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice. After the election of Gov. Mark Warner in 2001, Marsden became a private consultant on juvenile justice issues. A native of Alexandria, he earned a bachelor’s degree from Randolph-Macon College in Ashland.
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