This Virginia House of Delegates race is on the edge of our primary coverage area but it’s got an interesting twist.
The 10th District is the section of Henry County west of Martinsville, all of Patrick County and 2/3 of Carroll County. Ward Armstrong (D) is the incumbent with 18 years experience. He’s got an opponent this time who just moved into the district to challenge him (more about that later). Let’s go to a rundown of the candidates.
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Ward Armstrong (D) – Long-time incumbent, elected to A.L. Philpott’s seat, minority leader in the House, never seriously challenged, relatively popular to most in district.
Ed Creed (R) – Political newcomer, moved to the 10th from Roanoke 2 weeks before filing deadline.
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Breakdown: This should be an easy win by Armstrong.
Random Thoughts: I’m featuring this race this election cycle because I believe that Ed Creed has committed a political sin that almost dooms any support that I’d ever have for him at all. You don’t move to an area because you want to run a political campaign. You move to an area because you want to live in that area. Ed Creed is the definition of a carpetbagger and I have supreme disgust for that practice. (See Clinton, Hillary & Keyes, Alan). Even though I’ve mocked some of Armstrong’s stands and completely disagreed with him at times, it’s going to take a complete meltdown by Armstrong for him to not get SouthsideCentral’s endorsement because of Creed’s recent move into the district.
Creed just threw out a statement saying he won’t take contributions from power companies. Armstrong shot back with this quote (from this Martinsville bulletin article)
“Why didn’t my opponent appear before the SCC and speak out?” Armstrong asked. “I can tell you why: Because he’s only lived here for two months, and he probably doesn’t know where Richmond is or where Wytheville is.”
Zing!
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Prediction of the popular vote: Armstrong 64%, Creed 36%
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OddsMakers of winning the election: Armstrong 92% (Yep, that high even this early in the race and I’m being objective)
Sorry, but I have to respond to your analysis of that quote from Ward. What was the very next line of the article?
“Creed has said he moved to Claudville from Roanoke on June 7 so he could challenge Armstrong.”
He moved down from Roanoke – now I think that it’s a bit ridiculous to suggest that a guy originally from Roanoke doesn’t know where Richmond or Wytheville is. That line from Ward didn’t hurt our campaign, it made Ward look silly.
All that being said, if you’d like an interview or anything similar, let me know, and I’ll be happy to set it up.
Samuel Gilleran
Campaign Manager
Creed for Delegate
Fair enough, but I think Ward was going for the hyperbole of the carpetbagging reference.
That being said, I plan on covering this race and will get interviews and responses to questions. Thanks for stopping by!
Looks like it wasn’t that easy of a win for Ward Armstrong after all. I hope Ward does what he says, because Mr. Creed isn’t done. He will run against Ward again.
Mr. Tagert: While this election was certainly closer than Ward Armstrong would have liked, Ed challenging Armstrong again will depend on the redistricting process after the 2010 census. It’s more likely that the 10th District will get chopped up and Armstrong will get thrown into a race with Don Merricks or Danny Marshall. But Ed is certainly not done with local politics.