I have moved and the 7th moved. It was redesigned specifically for Abbie to absorb some red red areas and still win. Ive been in the same room with her twice and I cant say Ive been in a room with many people who are impressive as she is. Shes running for Governor as the next step towards POTUS. Trust me, she has the IT it takes.
It was a weird election. The tea baggers were in full force. Cantors district had some red areas, that planners thought he could absorb, like Hanover County which can be as redneck as you can imagine. It was basically Western Henrico countys seat. Tobacco country. Thom Blileys old seat paid for by Reynolds (at one time) and Phillip Morris money. Bliley died this week. Open primary. We dont register by party in Virginia but they required you to sign a document that you were only voting in one primary. As a solid Dem I always turned out anytime I could vote against Cantor.
It was going to be a close primary with the tea bagger crap going on. 140,000 people had voted in our district for Obama in the previous election. Bratt won by 7,000 votes. Almost certainly Dems throwing a F U at Cantor determined it. Thats 5% of the Obama vote in that area. That was Bratts edge. Abbie came in the scene in the next election and beat him.