The Virginia State Board of Elections on Monday certified the results of the 11th Congressional District election, confirming Democratic incumbent Rep. Gerry Connolly’s 981-vote win over Republican challenger Keith Fimian. The razor-thin margin was unchanged from when Fimian conceded defeat Nov. 9 while leaving open the possibility that he might seek a recount if the official results “change significantly.”
But the results didn’t change. Fimian’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment Monday.
In an odd end to one of the closest and hardest-fought races in the country this year, Connolly essentially declared victory on election night when he was still clinging to a 500-vote lead. His campaign declared victory again on Nov. 5 after post-election canvassing was completed and his lead widened to about 970 votes.
Connolly then checked into a hospital the weekend following the election to be treated for a blood clot in an artery. He was released in time to address reporters at his Annandale office a week after Election Day when Fimian’s campaign finally released a statement conceding the race.
The race in the 11th District, once thought to be a relatively easy win for Connolly, ended up being the closest contest in Virginia as outside groups poured millions of dollars for advertising into the district in the closing weeks of the campaign, allowing Fimian to nearly topple the man who beat him for the same seat by 12 points in 2008.
“You can’t sell smaller government to a district with a high number of government workers and government contractors, but you can come pretty close,” said Stephen Farnsworth, a professor of communication at George Mason University.
Three of Connolly’s fellow incumbent Democrats in Virginia — freshmen Reps. Tom Perriello and Glenn Nye and longtime Rep. Rick Boucher — were felled by a historic Republican wave in which the GOP retook the House of Representatives and trimmed the Democrats’ Senate majority.
Virginia’s political landscape will be much different when state legislators begin redrawing congressional districts next year based on results from the 2010 census, as Republicans now hold an 8-to-3 advantage in the state’s congressional delegation.
“The closeness of the race in the 11th District really underscored the role redistricting can play in flipping this seat one way or [the other],” said Farnsworth.
