Longtime politico and first-time candidate David Suetterlein breezed to victory Tuesday in the state Senate’s heavily Republican 19th District.
Suetterlein bested Democrat and political newcomer Mike Hamlar by a more than 2-to-1 margin to succeed retiring Sen. Ralph Smith. Suetterlein was Smith’s legislative director for several years and also was chairman of the Roanoke County Republican Committee.
Steven Nelson, a longtime Republican who ran as an independent, garnered less than 5 percent of the vote.
Suetterlein called the victory “an affirmation of conservative principles.”
“When you run an issues-based campaign,” he said, “you know you get the mandate for what to do in Richmond.”
He thanked Hamlar for sticking to the issues, too.
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“Mike and I each laid out our policy positions and let the voters decide,” he said.
There was little doubt Suetterlein, 30, would take the race in a district that leans 59 percent to 69 percent Republican in statewide races, just as he was a lock to get the Republican nomination to begin with.
The district includes all of Salem and Floyd County and parts of Roanoke, Franklin, Bedford, Carroll, Montgomery and Wythe counties.
Smith announced he wouldn’t run again and endorsed Suetterlein just two days before the deadline to seek the party nomination in March.
By then, Hamlar, 33, the scion of a respected family of funeral directors and an owner of Hamlar-Curtis Funeral Home, had been running for 10 months.
Nelson, 60, joined the race in June, partly out of frustration over how Suetterlein took his party’s nomination.
Suetterlein started volunteering for campaigns at 14 and by 17 was a precinct captain. He’s been a legislative aide for nine years, starting on the staff of then-Sen. Ken Cuccinelli before joining Smith’s office in 2008.
Suetterlein and Hamlar took overlapping positions on moving away from the heavy dose of standardized testing public school students endure.
Suetterlein, however, also supports amending the state constitution to make it easier to open charter schools in Virginia. Hamlar favors punching up public school funding.
Both also supported nonpartisan redistricting reform and reconsidering a controversial 2004 surveying law that’s triggered several lawsuits over multiple proposed natural gas pipelines.
Beyond that, Hamlar and Suetterlein had little in common.
Hamlar opposes the Mountain Valley Pipeline, while Suetterlein says it’s all up to federal regulators anyway.
Suetterlein opposes same-sex marriage, while Hamlar supports it.
Suetterlein calls himself a strong supporter of Second Amendment rights for gun owners, while Hamlar is a proponent of universal background checks for gun buyers.
Nelson, 60, said he’s a longtime Republican though he hasn’t been active in local politics. This is his first run for public office.
In March, Smith, R-Bedford County, announced plans to retire after two terms in office. He immediately endorsed Suetterlein as his successor.
The moves two days before the filing deadline sparked criticism that other GOP hopefuls were left with little time to decide what to do. Nelson said he wasn’t planning to run but was inspired to launch an independent candidacy after reading about the timing of Smith’s retirement and its potential implications for the nomination process.
Nelson positioned himself as a maverick conservative with no affection for either party nor use for government regulation, particularly out of environmental concerns. The Roanoke County native campaigned on support for U.S. 220 south improvements and the Mountain Valley Pipeline and opposition to the federal Environmental Protection Agency, the IRS and the Affordable Care Act. He also supported term limits.
A disappointed Hamlar said he expected to run better in at least some precincts — Northside, Peters Creek, Hunting Hills and Cave Spring in particular.
He’s not sure about his political future, but said he was proud of his first foray into politics.
“This was a great start,” he said.
Suetterlein said he’s eager to make the transition from behind the scenes to the Senate floor.
He knows how to create and push legislation, he said, “so I won’t have to rely on legislators from Northern Virginia and Tidewater to show me the ropes. That should be a benefit to Southwest Virginia.”