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There’s a new Congressman representing Virginia’s 5th District today. Republican State Senator John McGuire defeated Democrat Gloria Witt to keep Virginia’s 5th Congressional District seat in Republican hands.

The former Navy SEAL McGuire won with 57% of the ballots or 237,288 votes. Witt won in Democratic strongholds like the cities of Danville and Charlottesville, as well as Albemarle County, but McGuire won in the rest of the district. That covers more than 20 other counties and the city of Lynchburg. One of the closest counties turned out to be Prince Edward, where just 450 votes separated the two candidates. McGuire picked up 4,613 votes in Prince Edward and the town of Farmville, while Witt finished with 4,163. 

Prince Edward was the site of the lone debate in this race, which was held at Hampden-Sydney College. Aside from that, Witt wasn’t seen much in this part of the district, while McGuire made appearances on a pretty regular basis, including a rally with Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Senate candidate Hung Cao this past Saturday in Rice. In addition to rallies and Get Out the Vote events, McGuire also showed up at government events like the Buckingham County Board of Supervisors’ meetings during this year’s General Assembly session, to discuss bills being filed and help support local resolutions. That was one thing The Herald heard repeatedly, when discussing the race with local residents in all of our counties. McGuire was known in the area, residents said, while they hadn’t seen or heard from Witt except for the debate. 

John McGuire wins big in some areas

While Prince Edward turned out to be the closest part of the race, two other counties were more of a ‘blowout’ in terms of numbers. McGuire carried Campbell and Pittsylvania counties with more than double the number of votes of his opponent. In Pittsylvania County, McGuire picked up 23,534 votes, while Witt collected 9,034. In Campbell County, a total of 21,973 voters cast a ballot for McGuire, with 7,257 voting for Witt. 

One thing that didn’t show up as expected Tuesday night was a strong “third party” faction in support of incumbent 5th District Congressman Bob Good. Good had lost the Republican primary and then the recount as well to McGuire earlier this year, however some of his supporters felt he and they had been mistreated by the Virginia Republican Party. As a result, there had been talk of a push to get voters to write Good’s name in as a third party candidate. Campbell had the most write-ins of the race, with 245 ballots going to someone other than the two named candidates. Overall, there were 1,866 write-ins for the 5th District race, less than 1% of the total. 

In his acceptance speech, McGuire thanked God, his family and the voters, along with newly elected President Donald Trump. Trump had endorsed McGuire in the race, stretching back to before the Republican primary. McGuire had also received several local endorsements, including that of Buckingham County Sheriff Billy Kidd. 

“Representing the people of this district will be a great honor and I deeply appreciate the team effort and support that got us here,” McGuire said. “I especially want to thank God, my family, President Trump, and the people of the 5th District. As a veteran, I know it really is amazing what we can achieve when we work as a team. I look forward to fighting for this great district — our country needs to change course, and I will be a strong, consistent voice to get us back to President Trump’s America First conservative principles and values.”

Looking ahead, beyond the election 

As for what John McGuire will be focused on? He made several promises during the campaign to work on reducing prices. Specifically during the debate, McGuire singled out energy and gas prices as a way to help the local economy. 

“Our number three income in Virginia, $21 billion, is forestry and those folks tell me diesel prices were $2 a gallon a few years ago and they’ve gone as high as $6,” he said during the debate. “And so they’re having a hard time paying their bills, they’re having a hard time paying their employees. We need to enact legislation that will make us energy dominant, and lower the cost of fuel and living.”