Shawn O'Donnell also has a great video of Chap's time in the 1st District:
Elect Wittman and let's repair our PartyWith the news that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee decided to forgo participation in the 1st Congressional race, it appears we should be able to retain this seat as long as the party faithful show up at the polls. I would take nothing for granted, but I think we did our due diligence for retaining this seat during the convention when we nominated a person of substance who knows how to reach out to all the factions in the party and motivate them to go to the polls tomorrow. Let's do our job tomorrow and send Rob Wittman to congress to fill the unexpired term of a wonderfully effective Jo Ann Davis, whom we have lost.
Hopefully during the next year, Rob can use his post to unite a badly-fractured party. The 1st Congressional District is rampant with infighting and finger pointing among the different factions. To use an old quote from the first father of the Republican Party, Abe Lincoln, "a house divided against itself cannot stand". This quote was used by the President to describe a different set of circumstances than a lack of unity in our party. However, given the election results where we lost the Senate while running in districts drawn by Republicans to insure our victories for years to come, I would think those words have great application today.
So, Rob, please do for the 1st District what the State Party has failed to do and use your leadership position to bring folks of differing interests together as a party. As long as we tolerate those who have no tolerance for others, we will continue our recent losing ways. The Democrats have had to only field candidates to take advantage of the fractures in the Virginia Republican Party. Their only message is "we are not them." We have to come together and stop the bleeding if we are to stake our rightful claim on a conservative Virginia that should be led by Republicans.