House Minority Leader David J. Toscano, of Charlottesville, decisively won the Democratic primary race for the 57th District seat in the Virginia House of Delegates on Tuesday.
With all precincts reporting, Toscano had received 8,656 votes, or 67 percent of the vote. Ross Mittiga, a political researcher, instructor and Ph.D. candidate at the University of Virginia, had secured 4,302 votes, or 33 percent, in his first time running for political office.
After the race was called, Toscano said he already was looking forward to the general election in November and getting as many Democrats elected to the House of Delegates as possible. Throughout the race, he pushed for unity among the Democratic base to get more left-leaning candidates into office across the state.
“You know, [Mittiga’s campaign] threw everything they had at me and we still won by a pretty resounding margin,” he said.
People are also reading…
Mittiga said he was extremely proud of the race he and his supporters were able to run against Toscano, and that they succeeded in drawing attention to issues such as opposition to fracked-gas pipelines and getting big corporate money out of politics.
During the campaign, Mittiga made it a point to challenge Toscano’s views on a number of issues to push for what he called a more progressive agenda in the Democratic Party.
He said he believes his campaign made a difference in the race, and now that it’s over, he’ll begin looking for new ways to push for more progressive ideals that work for families, students and workers.
“I am optimistic, and I’m optimistic because, win or lose, we’ve already had a lot of success in shifting the consciousness of Charlottesville,” Mittiga said before the polls closed Tuesday.
Some of Mittiga’s biggest and most talked about positions during the race revolved around climate change and campaign finance reform, as well as bringing the minimum wage up to $15 in Virginia.
For Toscano, he focused his message heavily on creating budgets to help working families, protecting health insurance rights for those who could be affected by actions in Washington to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act and pushing for nonpartisan redistricting reform.
A common talking point among Democratic candidates in a number of races was what they would do to counter the actions of President Donald Trump. Toscano said Tuesday that that may have had an effect on bringing voters out to the primaries.
But for the Democrats to succeed in November, there needs to be more than just anger against Trump, he said.
“If we can put together the anger at Trump with a positive message, we are going to win,” Toscano said. “If we don’t include the positive message, we will have a hard time.”
No Republican candidates will be on the ballot for the 57th District in the general election in November. The registrars for Albemarle County and Charlottesville both said they were not aware of any independent candidates filing for candidacy. The deadline to file was Tuesday.
In his previous opposed general elections for the House, Toscano has handily won, with between 75 percent and 80 percent of the vote.