Forbes easily secures another term in U.S. House

CHESAPEAKE

U.S. Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Chesapeake, coasted to re-election Tuesday over his Democratic challenger, Wynne LeGrow.

Winning by nearly a 2-1 margin, Forbes declared victory shortly after 8 p.m. to a joyful crowd at the Chesapeake Conference Center celebrating a victorious night for Republicans in Virginia and across the country.

“This is a celebration of an opportunity – an opportunity we have as Americans to really help move our country forward,” Forbes said.

The election marks “the coming of a new day,” he said. “I hope it will be a day when we stop apologizing for America.”

Pete Burkhimer, the Chesapeake Republican Committee chairman, characterized Tuesday’s results this way: “Welcome to the taking back of our country.”

Forbes, 58, a Chesapeake lawyer, was first elected to the House in 2001 after a decade in the Virginia legislature. He has consistently won re-election by wide margins in the reliably Republican 4th District, which stretches 100 miles to the western suburbs of Richmond.

A member of the Armed Services Committee, he has been a prominent opponent of the Obama administration’s plan to close the military’s Norfolk-based U.S. Joint Forces Command. He is founder and chairman of the Congressional Prayer Caucus.

Forbes has pledged to work to repeal the health care overhaul or to withhold funding for key parts of the legislation . He also favors keeping the Bush-era tax cuts intact and supports a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget.

LeGrow, 65, is a retired Emporia physician who said during the campaign he disagreed with Forbes on “just about everything” – including religion. He is an acknowledged atheist, a rarity in American politics.

Bill Sizemore, (757) 446-2276, bill.sizemore@pilotonline.com