The 14th District includes Danville, southern Pittsylvania county and southeastern Henry County. Let’s take a look at the race.
Danny Marshall is a 4-term incumbent who barely hung on to his seat 2 years ago. He beat Danville City Councilman Adam Tomer 52-48 in a very nasty campaign that totaled over $1,400,000 for both candidates. Tomer ran a nasty campaign that took some bizarre shots at Marshall including Social Security (which state legislators have absolutely no say in).
His opponent this time is a former member of Danville’s City Council, Seward Anderson. Anderson gave up his council seat in 1996 after a 14 year run that included 10 years as Mayor. He tried to get back on Council in 2002 but lost.
Lets go to a BreakDown…
Marshall (R): Pros: 4 term incumbent, business experience, popular. Cons: May be vulnerable because of his last rough campaign.
Anderson (D): Pros: Prior government experience, business experience. Cons: Relatively unknown due to non-activity, last election was a startling loss.
Currently, Anderson has been tailgating Marshall with a message of “He’s ok, but I’ll be better”. Anderson made a speech today (really? no notice on his website?) catering to veterans interests.
Current observations: Marshall gets the early edge in the predictions due to his incumbency, but this race is relatively open at this early stage. If Marshall gets into dangerous territory, he’ll be getting large sums of campaign money just like he did to counter Tomer. We can only hope that Anderson’s campaign won’t get controlled by outside political money like Tomer’s was two years ago.
Vote prediction: Marshall 55 – Anderson 45
OddsMakers of victory: Marshall 62% – Anderson 38%
It’s way too early for any of these predictions to have much validity at all. SouthsideCentral will be following this race closely and will have lots more from both campaigns as the election comes into view.
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