U.S. House, Virginia District 5
Analysis
» June 12, 2006 |
Elected as a Democrat in 1996, an Independent for two years and officially a Republican since February 2002, Virgil Goode has amassed an increasingly conservative voting record. He served as a leading advocate of the federal tobacco buyout, enacted in October 2004.
Goode faces his second consecutive challenge from Democrat Al Weed, a vintner from the Blue Ridge Nelson County in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Goode, 58, defeated Weed in 2004 with 64 percent of the vote, and the folksy lawyer and former state senator from Rocky Mount is favored to defeat Weed again in the largely rural, tobacco-growing region of south-central Virginia. Goode has never finished with less than 60 percent of the vote since he first won his seat in 1996 as a Democrat.
Congressional Quarterly Risk Rating: Safe Republican
Primary
June 13, 2006
Democratic Candidate
Al Weed
Farmer
Technical Assistant to the US Director of the World Bank; U.S. Army
MPA, Economic Development and Policeal Modernization, Princeton; BA, Latin American Studies, Yale
Brooklyn, NY, USA
Lovingston, VA
Episcopalian
Republican Candidate
Virgil H. Goode Jr. (Incumbent)
Attorney
State Senate
JD, Law, University of Virginia
1996
October 17, 1946, Franklin County, VA, United States
Rocky Mount, VA
Baptist
» Key Votes in Congress
» Full Voting Record
Virginia District 5
Demographic Data (2000 Census)
- Population: 643,497
- Male: 48.5%
- Female: 51.5%
- Median Age: 38.3
- 18 Years and Over: 77.5%
- 65 Years and Over: 14.8%
- Employed: 57.0%
- Median Household Income: $35,739
- Families Below Poverty Level: 9.2%
- Bachelor's Degree or Higher: 19.0%
- (of those over 25)
Past Elections
- 2004 Presidential Election:
- Bush (R) 56%
- Kerry (D) 43%
- 2004 House Election:
- Virgil Goode (R) 64%
- Al Weed (D) 36%
State Political Profile
» Read Full ProfileNote: This list of candidates is not comprehensive. Candidates listed on this page were chosen by washingtonpost.com reporters and editors based on an analysis of their overall competitiveness in this race. Candidates will be added and removed from this page as the race unfolds.
