By Alex Bridges -- abridges@nvdaily.com
U.S. Congressman Robert W. "Bob" Goodlatte will run for re-election
to the House of Representatives in Virginia's 6th District after
defeating challenger Karen U. Kwiatkowski in the Republican Party
primary Tuesday.
Unofficial returns posted online by the Virginia State Board of
Elections showed Goodlatte received 21,727 votes, or 66.45 percent of
the total cast, compared to Kwiatkowski, with 10,968 votes, or 33.54
percent. The state agency calculated that 7.6 percent of the active
registered voters cast in the district cast ballots in the primary.
"We're very pleased with the support of the Republican primary voters
and we're very pleased we were able to run a positive campaign, from
start to finish, and now we look forward to moving into the fall
campaign, running on the [Mitt] Romney-[George] Allen-Goodlatte ticket
and talking about the issues that face the country related to this
administration and their inability to grow the economy, create jobs and
reign in the power and spending of federal government," Goodlatte said
by telephone after the polls closed.
Goodlatte, 59, has served the 6th District since 1993.
Kwiatkowski, 51, challenged Goodlatte as a constitutional
conservative. Kwiatkowski said she regrets the loss but also claims to
have sent a message to the Goodlatte campaign.
"We didn't win the vote like we would have liked to have, but we
owned Bob Goodlatte," Kwiatkowski said by phone Tuesday night. "We sent a
message to him and he has also sent a message back because his radio
ads that he was running this past week told everybody in the sixth
district that he was gonna cut spending and that he was a Constitutional
Conservative. Now where have we heard that before? So we've got him
right where we want him."
Unofficial results showed Goodlatte received 813 votes in Warren
County or 54.74 percent of the ballots cast, compared to Kwiatkowski,
with 672 votes or 45.25 percent of the total. Goodlatte also claimed
victory in Shenandoah County where he received 1,393 votes or 60.12
percent, compared to Kwiatkowski, with 924 votes or 39.87 percent.
In his home city of Roanoke, Goodlatte received 1,757 votes, or 70.73
percent of the ballots cast. Kwiatkowski received 727 votes or 29.26
percent of the total, the unofficial returns show.
Goodlatte took 2,457 votes in Rockingham County, or 52.34 percent of
the ballots cast, while Kwiatkowski received 2,237 votes or 47.65
percent.
In Page County, Goodlatte claimed a slim majority over Kwiatkowski.
Goodlatte received 391 votes, or 50.84 percent of the ballots cast,
compared to Kwiatkowski, with 378 votes, or 49.15 percent.
Kwiatkowski won a slim majority in Harrisonburg, the unofficials
results showed. With all precincts in Harrisonburg reporting, according
to the Virginia State Board of Elections, Kwiatkowski received 616 votes
or 50.57 percent, compared to Goodlatte with 602 votes and 49.42
percent.
