The very unofficial results of the recount asked for by Democratic candidate Janet Oleszek have Fairfax Senator Ken Cuccinelli increasing his 92-vote victory to 101 votes. I’ll update with a better news link when one becomes availible.
Update: The Senator’s press release.
37TH DISTRICT RECOUNT COMPLETE:
Cuccinelli Confirmed Winner
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Centreville, VA – A recount today confirmed the re-election of Virginia State Senator Ken Cuccinelli (R-37). The court monitored recount process confirmed that Cuccinelli had picked up 9 votes in the Brookfield precinct. This increase over earlier reported totals brought the Senator’s margin of victory to 101 votes.
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Cuccinelli shook hands with his opponent and today thanked her for a hard-fought race: “Ms. Oleszek ran one of the most expensive General Assembly races in Virginia history. I have immense respect for anyone who is willing to sacrifice the kind of time and energy to participate in the Democratic process that she did. My opponent worked hard and I commend her for her competitive campaign in this election.â€
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Cuccinelli noted that despite his incumbent status, Oleszek was favored by many to win the race. He acknowledged that his re-election was a surprise to many, especially as colleagues who had held office much longer were swept away and at a time when presidential approval ratings were in the 20s.
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Cuccinelli again thanked the supporters who volunteered and voted for him. “Everyone – Democrat, Republican and Independent who participated in this election should be proud of their decision. Local elections often receive the least notice while having the most import for our daily lives. Together we boosted voter turnout far beyond what was expected. I look forward to once again representing the people of the 37th District in Richmond,†Cuccinelli commented.
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Dec 19th by VA Blogger
VA Blogger — What is your email address? — I’ll give you the official press release.
VABlogger@gmail.com
Ken actually got 3 more votes in the recount. What a great campaigner and what an excellent job he does for his constituents. He also is now the father of a baby boy — finally, after 5 girls! Yippee!
Cuccinelli is a class act and I look for much greater things from him in his political future.
I would be interested to know from those here how they see Cuccinelli’s role — in terms of representation — given this close result. Will his style reflect that of a man that won by 101 votes, or will it reflect that of a man that won by 10,000 votes?
The question boils down to this: if you win by one vote, do you govern as if you won every vote?
‘The question boils down to this: if you win by one vote, do you govern as if you won every vote?’
A good question of any elected official. It certainly has been answered by the current President. He had a mandate, so he and his people said.
Because of the good remarks here about Cuccinelli, I’ll start following his career more closely.
I’m not a huge Cooch fan, but I strongly disagree with the idea that principles should be flexible depending on the percentage of votes one receives in a given election. Some would call this pandering. What’s the point of occupying a seat if you’re only doing so to get re-elected?
Ken is a solid conservative and straight shooter. If I know Ken, he will vote based on his principles and not be too concerned with votes counts.
Way to go Ken, we are all very proud of your efforts.
Pandering seems a bit harsh. I guess one person’s idea of pandering is another person’s idea of representative democracy.
I’m just interested in where folks here draw the line for our “representatives”, or “leaders”. Does one vote more than the other guy mean the 49.9 percent are discounted?
There are variations to each issue and vote that can make one either a contrarian, a representative, or a leader. Different people will see issues differently but it’s one’s record over a period of time that should determine which particularly category that elected official could fall. That being said, when an issue becomes hot and heated, that is when one really sees the true person. Do they shrink and hide, just go along, or stand up and say “This is what I think and why”. Far too many are of the first two categories. Will be interesting to see which ones of the new board will fall into which area.
Edmund is falling prey to the belief that representative democracy means that elected officials should have no opinion on issues themselves, but rather they should just vote the opinion of the majority of their constituents. That’s not representative democracy, that’s representative mobocracy. If our elected officials were to do that, why do we elect them at all? Why not instead just have propositions to the general public decide all policy issues?
“Will his style reflect that of a man that won by 101 votes”
In answer to your question, his style will reflect that of a man that WON. He won because the majority of voters in his district believed that his integrity, ability, and stance on the issues would better serve them in the Senate than those of Janet Oleszek.
Ken is very open and clear about what he believes and that he will stand by those beliefs when he has to make a decision in the Senate. He will not have to take any polls to figure out how to vote. This is true representative democracy. An individual is chosen by the electorate based on his/her beliefs as espoused to the electorate and based upon their trust that he will abide by those beliefs and make reasoned decisions based on them in serving the electorate. A true representative does not just parrot what he/she perceives the electorate wants. He/She has the confidence that his/her views are what got him/her there and that’s what guides actions on the Senate floor. This is true representative democracy. A person, not a proxy.
Thanks Tired… this overlap of representation and leadership is of interest to me. When things get hot, it is true that we often see the “true” person.
More often than not, I find myself disappointed.
Like I said, I don’t care much for the guy, but anyone who has been paying attention knows he’s very forthright about what he believes. I doubt you’ll see the Ken Cuccinelli who won by 100 votes vote differently than the Ken Cuccinelli who won by however much it was in 2005.
What is more interesting is I am hearing he is exploring a run for AG…maybe this isn’t news to everyone else. I’ve not been paying too much attention since the election.
Janet Howell is my State Senator… I would LOVE IT if she voted like a conservative 40% of the time!
Nice straw man, extrmst. You certainly have earned your moniker today.
In your world, if 80 percent of Mr. Cuccinelli’s district disagree with him on issue “A”, he shows leadership by ignoring them. Hey, they new his position on “A”, but gulped hard because they liked his positions on “B”, “C”, and “D”.
I just don’t think the world of government should be “person” or “proxy”, but “person” AND “proxy”.
I would submit that your either/or view is neither conservative nor is it pragmatic.
Edmund,
My view would be that of one who supports representative government. Not poll-watching.
Not trying to be snarky extrmst, but you do mean poll-watching, just every four years (or six as the case may be…).