Shawn Nowlin
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November 6, 2018, is a day that will go down in history. Hundreds of federal, state and local races, including 35 Senate Seats and 435 congressional districts, were up for grabs across the country.
Nationally, polls leading up to the election indicated that the Republicans would maintain control of the Senate while the Democrats would take control of the House. That ultimately proved to be the case.
In Craig County, residents overwhelmingly voted in favor of Republicans.
Congressman Morgan Griffith was elected to serve his fifth-term after defeating Democratic opponent Anthony Flaccavento by a 2-to-1 margin, roughly 160,000 votes to 85,000 votes.
Rep. Joe McNamara was able to secure approximately 21,250 votes, which ended up being over 8,000 more than his Democrat challenger Carter Turner. McNamara’s victory helped Republicans maintain the majority in the Virginia House of Delegates.
“I’m going to Richmond, but I’m going there to further your ideas,” McNamara said during his victory speech. “We are going to continue that conservative nature that the people in the 8th district want.”
Carter Turner, Democrat challenger to Joe McNamara.
Congressman Griffith won every area in the 9th District with the exception of Radford, Martinsville and Montgomery County. When the final numbers were announced, his challenger was surrounded by family and a few close friends.
“I want to extend a deep and heartfelt thanks to all of my staff, the leaders of our volunteer core groups, the local Democratic Committees, the 9th District Democratic Committee and to the donors and supporters across the 9th District and beyond,” Flaccavento, an organic farmer and economic development consultant from Abingdon, said. “I believe that we did almost everything right, with a few minor exceptions.”
How does a politician react once they realized they’ve lost their race? For Carter Turner, you reach out to your opponent and congratulate him.
“I am very proud of the race that we ran. Obviously, I’m disappointed in the results. I do think we highlighted some important issues to our region,” Turner said. “I don’t have any regrets. I reached out to Joe to congratulate him on running a great campaign. I wish him nothing but the best.”
