Associated Press - Dems, GOP Settle On Congressional Nominees

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Associated Press - Dems, GOP Settle On Congressional Nominees

After hours of deliberations, Republicans nominated first term Del. Robert Wittman on Saturday to vie for the vacant seat in Congress created by the death last month of Rep. Jo Ann Davis.

Democrats nominated war veteran and Bronze Star recipient Philip Forgit to vie for the seat earlier Saturday.

The nominations set up a Dec. 11 special election in a district that has voted consistently Republican, but at a time when the GOP has encountered problems and Democrats have prospered.

Wittman won the nod after trailing most of the night at the Caroline County convention that drew more than 1,000 delegates. His victory came at the expense of Paul Jost, a wealthy Williamsburg businessman, who had led through five ballots.

The convention's pivotal moment came after the fifth ballot when the congresswoman's widower, retired firefighter Chuck Davis, threw his support to Wittman. Candidate Sherwood Bowditch also announced at that moment that he was withdrawing from the race and urged his delegates to back Wittman.

After the fifth ballot, Jost conceded and Wittman accepted the nomination.

"I offer myself as a candidate with the most extensive experience in public office. I have experience in getting the job done," Wittman said at the start of the convention.

At the Democratic convention in Williamsburg, Forgit was selected over 62-year-old Ted Hontz of Stafford. Forgit, a 40-year-old documentary filmmaker from Williamsburg, was an elementary school teacher when his Navy Reserve unit activated him and he served in Iraq.

The district stretches from the Peninsula in Hampton Roads into the outer suburbs of northern Virginia, spreading into the Northern Neck and taking in most of Fredericksburg.

The district had been firmly in Republican hands for 6 1/2 years since Davis won it, and under Republican Herb Bateman before her.

But the Democratic nominee can expect robust financial support from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and from the Democrats who have won the last three contested statewide elections: former Gov. Mark R. Warner, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and freshman U.S. Sen. Jim Webb.

Davis won the seat in 2000 and was re-elected three times after that without a serious challenge. She was diagnosed two years ago with breast cancer, never relinquishing her duties in the House. The disease returned this summer. She died at her Gloucester County home on Oct. 6.

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