Dem Foe to Virginia Rep. Drake Worked Aid Projects in Iraq

CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS

By Greg Giroux, CQ Staff

Republican Rep. Thelma Drake — who in 2006 narrowly won a second term in Virginia’s typically Republican-leaning 2nd Congressional District, and is regarded as potentially vulnerable in her race this year — has drawn a new Democratic challenger: Glenn Nye, whose background in foreign affairs includes a recently completed assignment with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in war-torn Iraq.

Nye filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to organize a campaign against Drake in the southeastern Tidewater district, which gets most of its population from Virginia Beach and also includes the state’s Eastern Shore and parts of Norfolk and Hampton.

In a profile of Nye that appeared last month, the Virginian-Pilot newspaper in Norfolk said that he recently finished a nine-month stint with USAID in Iraq. The story said that Nye previously worked in Afghanistan and in the West Bank region of the Middle East.

Democratic bloggers in Virginia Beach cited the article in a posting entitled, “Meet (Congressman?) Glenn Nye.”

Drake, who serves on the Armed Services Committee, won re-election by a margin of 3 percentage points in 2006 — a tough year nationally for Republicans — over Democrat Phil Kellam, the longtime revenue commissioner in Virginia Beach, in a contest in which the national parties’ organizations actively intervened. Nye emerged as a 2008 hopeful after Kellam declined to seek a rematch against Drake, and Norfolk Sheriff Bob McCabe said last month that he would not seek the Democratic nomination.

CQ Politics currently rates the 2nd District race as Republican Favored.

Virginia’s 2nd has long had a Republican orientation, in part because of its concentration of military installations and personnel. President Bush carried 58 percent of the district’s vote in 2004, the same year that they gave 55 percent to Drake, then a state House member, who had stepped in late in the campaign after Republican incumbent Ed Schrock unexpectedly dropped his re-election bid.

Virginia Beach generally votes Republican in federal contests, while the state’s Eastern Shore and the district’s shares of Norfolk and Hampton are more politically competitive.

Democrats insist, though, Virginia’s 2nd District is winnable for them. Among the party’s recent candidates, Tim Kaine carried the 2nd District in his successful 2005 campaign for governor; Jim Webb lost the 2nd by just 51 percent to 48 percent in his successful 2006 statewide campaign for senator; and the Democrats in 2007 captured two state House districts in Virginia Beach that had been held by Republicans.

CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS

Jan. 24, 2008 – 6:27 p.m.