Garnering 52.5 percent of the vote in last week's Republican primary election for Sen. Warren Barry's 37th-District seat, Centreville's Ken Cuccinelli defeated Springfield's Mike Thompson.
He will vie against Democratic primary winner Cathy Belter in the Aug. 6 special election, and the conservative Republican credits his June 27 victory to his strong, grassroots effort involving more than 100 volunteers.
"That's how you build voters and win campaigns," said Cuccinelli, 33. "There's no question, we won it with people. Our volunteers could answer questions and add a personal touch."
Campaign worker Phil Rodokanakis of Oak Hill agrees. "He didn't rely on endorsements, as Thompson did, but on a hard-core group of volunteers who worked their fingers off for him, making phone calls and passing out literature."
Rodokanakis was at the Springfield-District polling place the whole time and said that — based on the stickers they wore — early on, it seemed like there were more Thompson supporters. But the polls stayed open until 9:30 p.m. and, "after about 7:15 p.m., it was a steady stream of Cuccinelli supporters — people from Sully who came after work and voted."
Overall, voters cast 1,784 total votes — 944 for Cuccinelli and 840 (47.5 percent) for Thompson. "We're elated," said Rodokanakis. "It was quite a victory."
He didn't expect that big a turnout because it was a special election, the polling place (Robinson Secondary School) was far from the Sully District, there was a heavy rainstorm and traffic was snarled. But, he said, "People really wanted to make a statement."
Rodokanakis said workers in the Cuccinelli campaign are "charged and ready to continue" with the next step — a battle against Belter. "But it'll definitely continue to be a strong, grassroots effort," he said.
Cuccinelli said people in his camp were "always a lot more confident about our chances than some other people in the county were." And he believes people voted for him because of his total platform package and the fact that he's maintained a "consistent, coherent and compelling" position.
He's pro-life and anti-tax — staunchly against both abortion and the sales-tax referendum. He contends that money for transportation improvements should come from the General Fund, and he doesn't want to see the sales tax increased for this purpose. Instead, he'd rather have income-tax revenues available for transportation funding.
Cuccinelli says area residents appreciate the fact that he's been so straightforward about his views on the issues. "Part of the advantage of being blunt is that we don't have to play games," he said. "We didn't take a marketing approach — we took an informational approach."
He says taxes will dominate the upcoming race and will be "a preliminary round for the referendum." Stressing that Belter's voting record on the School Board (she's the Springfield District representative) is one of "high-spending," he doesn't believe that will sit well with the voters.
"The last couple years, she's voted for double-digit increases in the school budget — which the Board of Supervisors couldn't approve because it was too high," said Cuccinelli. "So she's weak on this issue, unless you love spending and taxes."
He said Republicans have been pressing hard for accountability in state government and, tying that issue to his anti-tax platform, he believes he'll be a strong candidate. He noted that both he and Belter agree that Northern Virginia is getting shortchanged on the amount of money it gets back from Richmond for transportation and education.
But otherwise, said Cuccinelli, he and his opponent "differ rather dramatically on all the fundamental issues." Therefore, he said, "I think we're going to have a pretty vigorous debate." And although he expects the Democrats to try to "demonize me for my pro-life views," he hopes for the chance to discuss all the issues in an actual debate.
A patent attorney in Crystal City, Cuccinelli has been involved in Sully District politics since 1995 and served as the Sully GOP's membership coordinator. Now, in return for his many years of hard work for the whole spectrum of Republican candidates, he says it's time for his fellow Republicans to rally 'round his campaign.
After last week's primary, he said, Thompson did just that — congratulating him on his victory and offering his support. "He's a team player and he's going to help out," said Cuccinelli. "His leadership will be critical, and I couldn't be happier."
Cuccinelli and his wife Teiro live in Centreville's Hanna Estates and have four daughters, Alie, 6 1/2; Marielle, 4; Reilly, 2 1/2 and Reagan, 1. A fifth daughter, Anna Veronica, is due July 22. And although she has a few other things on her mind these days, Teiro was delighted with her husband's win, last week.
"It's been a long, hard road, but we both knew this is what he was meant to do," she said. "He's the kind of person that people believe in, and that's why he's been able to accomplish what he has."