POL - Repubs pick up House seat with Forbes win

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Republicans pick up House seat with Forbes win Associated Press © June 19, 2001

Republican Randy Forbes

Democrat Louise Lucas

RICHMOND -- Republicans expanded their narrow majority in the U.S. House of Representatives today as Randy Forbes defeated Democrat Louise Lucas in a closely watched special election marked by negative advertising, racial tension and heavy spending by the national parties.

With all but six of 239 precincts reporting unofficial returns, Forbes had 70,177 votes, or 53 percent, to 63,367 votes, or 47 percent, for Lucas.

The contest between the two state senators to succeed Rep. Norman Sisisky, a Democrat who died in March, was widely viewed as an early referendum on the Bush administration and as a bellwether for next year's midterm elections.

Forbes' victory gives Republicans a 12-seat advantage over Democrats in the House. The GOP has 222 seats to the Democrats' 210. There are two independents and one vacancy.

The outcome also was a boost for Republican National Committee chairman Jim Gilmore, the Virginia governor, who could not afford to lose a high-profile race in his own back yard. The RNC pledged $500,000 to Forbes' campaign as the party sought to rebound from Vermont Sen. James Jeffords' defection, which cost the GOP control of the Senate.

Forbes' victory in the highly competitive 4th District, which stretches from far southeastern Virginia to areas just west and south of Richmond, deprived Lucas of the distinction of becoming the state's first black female member of Congress.

The high stakes of the race brought a stream of national politicians to the district. Vice President Dick Cheney and Oklahoma Rep. J.C. Watts were among those who campaigned for Forbes. Lucas got a hand from Reps. John Murtha of Pennsylvania and Ike Skelton of Missouri, and others.

The national parties spent an estimated $3.5 million on behalf of the candidates, mostly for a barrage of television advertising -- much of it negative spots aimed at energizing party activists.

Each side accused the other of injecting race into the campaign. The Forbes campaign criticized a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee mailing that pictured a black child on the cover and declared that ''12 million of us will be left behind'' by President Bush's budget.

A few days later, the Lucas campaign chastised Forbes for not disavowing a supporter's comment to a white reporter that Lucas ``is working to get the people out to vote. Her people. Not Randy's people, not my people, not your people, but her people.''

On the final Sunday of the campaign, Lucas or her surrogates visited 74 black churches in the district, which is 39 percent black.

The campaign's hottest issue, however, was Social Security. Forbes, 49, supports allowing younger workers to invest a small percentage of their Social Security taxes in the stock market. Lucas, 57, portrayed the proposal as a reckless gamble that could lead to reduced benefits or a higher retirement age. Forbes accused Lucas of scare tactics.

The candidates also went after the potentially decisive senior vote by sparring over who would do more to make prescription drugs affordable for older people.

Both candidates claimed to be best equipped to protect the district's many military installations from the next round of base closings, saying they had been promised a seat on the House Armed Services Committee.

Forbes is a Chesapeake lawyer and former state GOP chairman. He sponsored the bill to abolish parole in Virginia.

Lucas lives in Portsmouth and owns several homes for mentally retarded adults. However, in her campaign she emphasized her previous 18-year career at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, where she became the first female shipfitter

-- Anonymous, June 19, 2001


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