|
|||||||||||||
Printer-Friendly
Email this Story
Post a Comment (0)
Fimian rides big margin from PW to victory
Call Prince William king maker.Keith Fimian (R), the businessman that ran as the GOP nominee for the 11th Congressional district in 2008, defeated Fairfax County Supervisor Pat Herrity (R-Springfield) 56-44 percent Tuesday night to become the GOP nominee once again in the race to take on freshman Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-11th).
"All voters and indeed all Americans must come together to restore our economy," said Fimian at a rally in Fairfax as supporters cheered him on from inside the dining hall at P.J. Skidoos.
Fimian applauded Herrity for running and he blasted Connolly for a "failed record" on spending.
"Gerry Connolly has done nothing to improve the economy," he said, later adding that he will campaign against Connolly by focusing on "jobs, taxes and spending."
While Prince William's elected officials largely avoided the rally, Manassas Del. Jackson Miller (R-50th) immediately endorsed Fimian after he won, having supported Herrity prior to Tuesday.
"It was a family feud that ended at 7 o'clock tonight," said Miller, a potential candidate for state Sen. Chuck Colgan's (D-29th) seat in the 2011 election. Fimian supporter and declared candidate Bob FitzSimmonds, the deputy clerk of the circuit court, was also on hand.
Fimiam lost Fairfax County by 1.5 percent on Tuesday but crushed Herrity in Prince William (76-24%). Fimian won Fairfax City without a problem either, taking home a majority of the vote in each precinct of the six precincts. Fimian won more absentee ballots than Herrity in the city and Prince William while Herrity collected 213 more in Fairfax County.
While Fimian's margin of victory coming out of Prince William is likely more than even he would have predicted, the fact that he won the county should not be surprising. He kicked off his campaign in February at Giuseppe's Italian Restaurant in the Town of Haymarket to a crowd of about 100 people. Herrity, on the other hand, launched his campaign at a country club in Springfield.
Western Prince William served as Fimian's stopping ground in an election where 7.35 percent of registered voters showed up to the polls. In the Limestone precinct of Bristow, Fimian won 204 votes to 14, a margin of 94 percent to 6 percent. That turned out to be the most lopsided showing for either campaign anywhere in the 11th. He won all 51 of the district's Prince William precincts and a majority of absentee ballots, earning at least 63 percent of the vote in every precinct.
Former western Prince William County GOP vice chair Jeanine Lawson, now a homemaker from Bristow, served as one of the volunteer precincts organizers for Fimian and said she campaigned for Fimian door-to-door in Limestone from March to June, hitting every home at least once.
"It's our message that people (care) about and that's jobs, taxes and the economy," she said. "And illegal immigration. That's another one."
When asked how Fimian outperformed Herrity by such a margin, she mentioned that the issues played one role. Herrity's vote on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors that raised some real estate taxes while dropping others is a big one Fimian's campaign used to hammer Herrity throughout the campaign.
However, Lawson brought up an attack from Herrity that did not play well with some GOP voters.
When Herrity hit Fimian over some of his company's tax troubles, Lawson said two families she talked to on the campaign trail told her stories about their own woes with the IRS though they were trying to rectify their situations.
"He called my candidate a tax cheat. People don't like that," said Lawson. "... They could take offense to that attack, being called a cheat. I think really that was a pivotal mistake from him."
Fimian ran by far a more negative campaign when it came to debates and public statements, even though both candidates attacked each other in their direct mail pieces. Fimian's campaign even put up signs using the same color scheme as Herrity's signs that read "Pat Herrity Raised Property Taxes" with a link to a Web site attacking Herrity at the bottom that automatically linked to Fimian's Web page.
Bristow Republican Rose Schultz, who backed Fimian in the primary, said she supported him because he had the courage to run in 2008 when the electoral climate favored Democrats. Like Lawson, she pointed out Herrity's real estate property tax vote as one of her issues with the Springfield supervisor, also mentioning that she saw him at Nokesville Day spending more time with lobbyists than potential voters while Fimian worked the crowd harder.
"Pat Herrity wasn't with his float and his people," she said.
You must be logged in to post a comment.