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 County results Precinct resultsMcDonnell: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% Deeds: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% 90%+ | |||||||||||||||||
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TheVirginia Attorney General election of 2005 took place on November 8, 2005, to elect theAttorney General of Virginia.Jerry Kilgore, who had been elected attorney general in 2001, resigned in February 2005 torun for Governor, as is the tradition in Virginia. He was replaced byJudith Jagdmann, the Deputy Attorney General for the Civil Litigation Division, who did not run in the election.
The Republican primary was won by State DelegateBob McDonnell, who defeated attorney Steve Baril. State SenatorCreigh Deeds was unopposed in the Democratic primary. McDonnell won the race by 360 votes, which was so close it required a recount.[1] He was sworn in as Attorney General alongsideGovernorTim Kaine andLieutenant GovernorBill Bolling on January 14, 2006.
McDonnell and Deeds went on to rematch in the2009 Virginia gubernatorial election, which McDonnell won by a wide margin.
The primary campaign was a contentious one.[2] Baril accused McDonnell of bypassing campaign finance laws by taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from clients he represented in cases in front of state agencies in his dual role as a "lawyer-legislator".[3] McDonnell replied that the allegations were "baseless". Baril promised to be "the people's lawyer" and was endorsed byEric Cantor. McDonnell, carryingJim Gilmore's endorsement, cast himself as an experienced reformer.[4]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Bob McDonnell | 110,125 | 65.63% | ||
| Republican | Steve Baril | 57,679 | 34.37% | ||
| Majority | 52,446 | 47.62% | |||
| Turnout | 167,804 | ||||
Roanoke State SenatorJohn S. Edwards was to challenge Deeds in a primary fight for the Attorney General Nomination for theDemocratic Party of Virginia. Edwards, who had won 30% of the vote in the primary in 2001, was considered a viable candidate, but dropped out due to his tough liberal stances ongay rights.[6] After Edwards' withdrawal, Deeds was the only candidate left in the Democratic primary. Running unopposed, Deeds won 100% of the primary vote on June 14, 2005.[7]
After securing the nomination due to Edwards' withdrawal, Deeds began positioning himself as a centrist Democrat such asMark Warner. On June 14, Deeds found out his opponent in the general election would be Bob McDonnell after McDonnell had won the Republican primary.[8] McDonnell, who also positioned himself as a moderate campaigned against Deeds. Throughout early polling, Deeds and McDonnell started the race off tied.
The first poll of the race, conducted by Mason-Dixon showed Deeds at 34% and McDonnell barely ahead with 35% which was inside the margin of error. By the second poll which was also conducted by Mason Dixon, Deeds was behind 33%-36%. Deeds continued to campaign and was endorsed byNARAL in August 2005.[9]
Deeds based his campaign headquarters inCharlottesville, Virginia, which was in his native Senate district. Deeds continued to lag McDonnell in the polls until the endorsement of the NRA. In late September 2005, the NRA unexpectedly endorsed Deeds, the Democrat, over McDonnell.[10] With the new ability to claim himself as a "centrist" Democrat, Deeds had gained much needed campaign momentum.
By late October, Deeds was only 4%-5% behind McDonnell. Heading into early November, Deeds was inside the margin of error with McDonnell, behind 40%-43%. On Election day, it appeared obvious that the race was heading into a recount. Deeds trailed McDonnell by approximately 320 votes.
| Source[11] | Date | Deeds (D) | McDonnell (R) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mason Dixon | November 1–2, 2005 | 40% | 43% |
| Roanoke College | October 23–30, 2005 | 34% | 39% |
| Rasmussen Reports | October 26, 2005 | 39% | 43% |
| Mason Dixon | October 18–20, 2005 | 34% | 42% |
| Mason Dixon | September 13–15, 2005 | 33% | 36% |
| Mason Dixon | July 19–21, 2005 | 34% | 35% |
For the majority of the campaign, Deeds lagged McDonnell from anywhere between 3%-8%. However, in the final weeks of the campaign, Deeds picked up support due in part because of theNRA's endorsement of him.[12] In the final poll taken byMason Dixon and released on November 3, Deeds was only 3% behind McDonnell.
Deeds lagged considerably in the fundraising race. On Election Day, according to Our Campaigns, the candidates had the following amount of Cash on hand:[11]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Bob McDonnell | 970,886 | 49.96% | ||
| Democratic | Creigh Deeds | 970,563 | 49.95% | ||
In late November, the Board of Elections certified Bob McDonnell as the winner by 323 votes. However, Deeds announced he would petition the courts for a recount on November 29.[14] The recount was set to last until mid-December.
The recount started later than expected on December 20, 2005, when both campaigns were allowed to comb through ballots to make any challenges.[15] Despite the fact that it was a recount, very few ballots were actuallyrecounted as opposed to both campaigns making challenges to hand-fulls of ballot instead.
On December 22, 2005, however, the Board of Elections confirmed McDonnell the winner of the recount by a 360-vote margin.[16] Despite the fact that the race was one of the closest in history, the recount had actuallygained McDonnell exactly 37 votes boosting his margin from 323 votes to exactly a 360-vote lead over Deeds. Deeds called McDonnell at 7:15 that night to congratulate him on the victory.[17]
After the recount, the final certified tally was as follows:[16]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Bob McDonnell | 970,981 | 49.96% | ||
| Democratic | Creigh Deeds | 970,621 | 49.94% | ||
| Write-ins | 1,801 | 0.09% | |||
| Majority | 360 | 0.02% | |||
| Turnout | 1,943,403 | ||||
| Republicanhold | |||||
Virginia Sen. R. Creigh Deeds, who is running for attorney general, received the endorsement of the National Rifle Association
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