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Rust, Donahue review race
The day after the election, both candidates for delegate of Virginia's 86th District, which includes Sterling, were in completely opposite states of mind, but not exactly the way one might expect.Tom Rust, who won the election with 53 percent of the vote compared to 47 percent for opponent Jay Donahue, seemed upset.
He told The Times that he wanted to thank the voters “for sorting through the negative, distorted campaign put forth by my opponent.”
Asked if he had expected the vote to have been as close as it was, Rust – who ran unopposed in the 2005 election and garnered 92 percent of the vote – replied, “it was not close. I carried Herndon, Fairfax County, Loudoun County and won by six points, all in an extremely hostile environment put forth by my opponent. He spent $400,000 attempting to destroy my record.”
Donahue, who lost the election, was out of town and unable to be reached for comment, but his campaign manager, Steve D'Amico, was upbeat and said he was “proud of the race we put forward.”
He added that his campaign “put a scare into Rust,” and added that he would continue to follow the politics of the 86th District. D'Amico said that Donahue felt good about the effort put forth but that low turnout cost him the race.
“Key Democratic precints like McNair Elementary and Frying Pan had very low turnouts,” he said. “Much less than expected.”
During the race, Donahue attacked Rust on the unpopular "abuser fees" for reckless and drunk driving. Rust was a patron of that bill for several years before it was passed into law as part of the massive state transportation bill this year.
In turn, Rust attacked Donahue for his support of the controversial Herndon day labor center. Donahue supported a zoning permit for the center while he was on the Planning Commission.
Combined, the two candidates spent over $1 million according to the Virginia Public Access Project Web site.
According to unofficial results posted on the Virginia State Board of Elections, voter turnout for the race was 7,404 of 26,873 registered voters, making $137.25 the amount spent on each individual voter in this race.
Contact the reporter at gmacdonald@timespapers.com
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