The University Democrats held a rally Friday to support State Sen. Edd Houck’s re-election campaign. Former U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello, D-Charlottesville, and State Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Charlottesville, attended the event to speak to students. Photo by Will Brumas

The University Democrats hosted a rally Friday at the Rotunda to promote State Sen. Edd Houck’s re-election bid. Houck is facing Bryce Reeves, Republican challenger, for the 17th District state Senate seat in tomorrow’s election.

The 17th District includes parts of Albemarle County and borders Charlottesville to the east.

The event featured endorsement speeches from former U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello, D-Charlottesville, as well as State Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Charlottesville, who urged volunteers to make final pushes to increase election turnout.

“In Virginia, there’s no such thing as an off year,” University Democrats President Rex Young said, referring to the absence of gubernatorial or national elections in 2011. “We provide the bodies to get the work done to win.”

Houck, who holds a master’s in education from the University, has occupied his Senate seat since first being elected in 1983. Democrats currently hold a 22-18 majority in the State Senate but a 59-39 minority in the House of Delegates.

“The only barrier to an extreme agenda in Virginia is the Senate,” Deeds said, adding that he found Reeves’s campaign “backward.”

Houck repeatedly referenced a debate between the two candidates held Thursday night at the University of Mary Washington, where he said Reeves spoke in favor of privatizing health care and loosening gun control laws in the commonwealth.

“[Reeves] wants the law changed to bring guns right here to the Grounds of Mr. Jefferson’s University,” Houck said. “Your parents send you here to, one, get a sound education, [but] they also expect you to be safe.”

Perriello emphasized the need for all the volunteers present to go out and canvass after the event. He praised Houck’s 28 years in office to date, and stressed how important he found this race.

“People’s lives at the kitchen table are actually much more affected by local races [than by national races],” Perriello said. “[The state Senate] is the only thing stopping us from veering off to the crazy right.”