DANVILLE, Va. - "Virgil Goode: as independent as the people he serves," read the television advertisement tagline promoting Rep. Virgil L. Goode Jr.'s bid for reelection to his third term in the U.S. House of Representatives.
By 11 p.m., when 95 percent of the precincts had reported, Goode had captured 67 percent of the vote, assuring that he would serve the people of the 5th District, which includes Charlottesville and the University, for two more years.
Goode faced Democrat John Boyd Jr., a Mecklenburg County farmer and civil rights activist. The challenger's "Do Something Campaign for Virginia" failed to catch on in the largely rural 5th District, which stretches from Charlottesville and Albemarle County in the north to Danville and Pittsylvania county on the North Carolina border.
The district also includes Appomattox, Bedford, Buckingham, Campbell, Charlotte, Cumberland, Fluvanna, Franklin, Halifax, Henry, Lunenberg, Mecklinburg, Nelson, Patrick and Prince Edward counties.
As Charlottesville and the University's representative to Congress, Goode said he supports funding for the Albemarle Regional airport and the Charlottesville bus system. Goode said he has also been an advocate for the University's interests in the capital.
"I hope that we will be able to continue to work with the National Institutes of Health, which provides grants to the University of Virginia for diabetes, prostate cancer, breast cancer, and a number of other diseases," he said.
The incumbent has a strong base of support in the largely rural district and raised a formidable campaign war chest from individual donors and contributions from political action committees.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Goode had raised $568,076 by Oct. 18. Boyd had raised $59,795 by that date. Goode's campaign also outspent Boyd's $434,532 to $38,455 by that date.
The incumbent energized constituents with television ads and road signs along U.S Route 29, linking his candidacy to those of Republicans George W. Bush and Virginia U.S. Senator-elect George Allen.
Goode earned a J.D. from the University's Law School in 1973 and in that year was elected to the Virginia Senate, representing the 20th District. Much of his political base in the 5th Congressional District was formed during his 23-year tenure in the state Senate. He was elected to the House in 1996 as a Democrat but left the party to become an independent early this year.
Goode is a member of the House Appropriations Committee.
A political maverick who often voted with Republicans even as a Democrat, Goode champions many conservative causes, such as trade restrictions and a reduction in U.S. aid to foreign nations.
"We also need to have a tax code that is fair and simple," he said.
He was also one of five Democrats to cross party lines and vote to impeach President Bill Clinton in 1998.
Defying easy political characterization, Goode also supports increasing federal funding for special education and opposes the private-school voucher program many Republicans support.
Despite his independent status, the Republican party did not run a candidate against Goode in the 5th District, and his support in the district comes mostly from the roles in that party.
"I greatly appreciate all the help the Republican committees gave me," Goode said.
At a victory party held at the Dimon Center in a converted tobacco warehouse along the Dan River here, Goode backers met to monitor the national races, talk politics and celebrate with their candidate.
Although he declined to declare victory outright because the number of precincts reporting had not yet reached 80 percent at 9:30 p.m., he announced "it's looking real good" to loud cheers and whistles from the partisan crowd circled around him.
Ruby Pace of Martinsville, who had two children graduate from the University, said she supported Goode's first run for Congress even though she is a Republican.
"I've followed Virgil since he was valedictorian at Franklin County High School," she said. "He's for everyone, black white, rich, poor. He votes his conscience."
"We're tobacco farmers, and he really cares about us," said Shelby Adkins of Penhook, Va., who has known Goode since the candidate was a child. "He's for the people, not for a party"
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