Last night, George Allen won the U.S. Senate primary in Virginia by snagging just over 65 percent of the vote, beating out former Richmond Tea Party President Jamie Radtke, Delegate Bob Marshall, and Chesapeake minister E.W. Jackson. Radtke was the runner-up with 23 percent of the vote, followed by Marshall’s seven percent and Jackson’s five percent. Roughly five percent of all Virginia voters came out to the polls.
Allen, who had served as a Virginia senator from 2001 to 2007, had been viewed as the frontrunner in yesterday’s election for some time, despite his recent political inactivity. Name recognition and ubiquitous political signage seemed to benefit his campaign as he scooped up more votes than the other three candidates combined.
Albemarle County voter Franklin Micciche joined the majority of his fellow Republicans in choosing Allen.
“I’m familiar with him and I liked the job he did when he was in office,” Micciche said. “I also liked Jackson—if George [Allen] was not in the race, Jackson would have my vote.”
Other voters, like Joe Dumas of Charlottesville, decided to forgo Allen in favor of a new face in the Senate seat. Dumas voted for Radtke, saying “George Allen’s been there long enough. It’s time for something new.”
The Washington Post reported that Radtke, Marshall, and Jackson all argued that Allen was “insufficiently conservative and a poor choice to face [former governor Tim] Kaine in November.”
Allen will challenge Kaine for the Senate election on November 6.—Ana Mir