Check out the website: https://lenspoliticalnotes.com Look at the recent Daily Bits on the website. 244 Years since the Declaration of Independence. Offense and Defense
Political Note #303 Dr. B Cameron Webb VA CD 05
2020 General election
The University of Virginia is in Charlottesville. Liberty University is in Lynchburg. Both are in the Fifth Congressional District of Virginia. The schools are different. The University of Virginia, founded by Thomas Jefferson is one of the great state universities in the country. Liberty University, founded by Jerry Falwell, is a Bible College with ambition.
On November 23, 2019, the University of Virginia football team, then ranked 24th in the country, played Liberty University’s football. Liberty University was defeated soundly 55-27. What was remarkable, though, is that they were on the same football field.
Liberty University’s ambition can be seen in its athletic program. In football, it moved up to the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision and will soon be eligible to play in end of season bowl games. In 2019, playing without membership in a conference, it had an 8-5 season. Remarkably, in the other major NCAA money sport, men’s basketball, Liberty dominated the American Sun Conference in the last two seasons, made the NCAA tournament in 20018-2019 (there was no tournament in 2019-2020), received a 12 seed, and won a game.
Even with these successes and the chance to play them in football, Liberty is not yet in the same league as the University of Virginia. Last fall, the 2019 season, the University of Virginia was ranked 25th nationally among football teams and played Florida in the Orange Bowl. In 2018-2019, the University of Virginia, which is in the powerful Atlantic Coast Conference, received a first seed in the NCAA tournament and was the champion that year.
Consider the candidates for the Fifth Congressional District. The Republicans refused to nominate the incumbent, first year Republican Congressman Denver Riggleman. They nominated Bob Good — county supervisor and longtime, but former Director of Development for Liberty University’s Athletic Department. = The Democrats nominated B. Cameron Webb, University of Virginia Graduate and University of Virginia assistant professor of medicine and director of health policy and equity. They are as different as their two schools.
This piece urges people to give money to B. Cameron Webb https://www.drcameronwebb.com, but I have to begin with Bob Good. In nominating Bob Good, the Republicans may have nominated the less electable candidate. Denver Riggleman’s status as an incumbent in jeopardy was consolidated when he performed a marriage between two men. Offended cultural conservatives put up Bob Good as an opponent. The District Republican Committee chose a caucus instead of a primary as the way to select the Republican nominee. Faced with the coronavirus, the District Republican Committee made it a drive-in caucus and located it in Bob Good’s territory. The consequence was, in effect, a primary with just a few Republicans voting. Despite Riggleman’s incumbency, Bob Good won with 56% of the vote. He is the nominee and will be on the ballot if the Board of Election allows it. Good needs an extension to submit the correct forms that are required to be on the ballot; forms he previously submitted incorrectly. The Board may decide today.
Bryant Cameron Webb won the Democratic primary with about two-thirds of the vote. He is African American and a local – or at least close to local. He grew up in Spottsylvania, a little more than an hour’s drive from Charlottesville. His father was a Human Resources manager for the Drug Enforcement Agency. His mother was a speech therapist. His wife is also a doctor.
After Cameron Webb completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Virginia, he appears to have created his own version of a joint degree. There were seven years between his entering Wake Forest University’s medical school and graduating from it. In between, he spent three years in Chicago getting a law degree from Loyola University.
Armed with a medical degree and a law degree, Cameron Webb became the founding CEO of EquityRX in Washington DC. The organization is a grassroots health equity organization that screens communities susceptible to health disparities and treats the structural conditions that create those disparities. They would create equitable opportunities for becoming and remaining healthy. While he was developing this organization, he spent a summer as an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and a little more than a year as a White House Fellow. He has been Director of Health Policy and Equity at the University of Virginia since September 2017.
Cameron Webb’s politics are focused primarily on health issues. Politics, he says, turns advocacy into reality. He wants to make sure that all Virginians get the health care they deserve. He’s also practical. He explains to interviewers that it is folly to attempt to change everything at once. Can Cameron Webb make that kind of case to the people of VA 05 and get himself elected? Can he defeat Bob Good?
VA 05 covers a lot of area. If it were a state, it would be the seventh smallest state in area. Looking like a standing two legged prehistoric creature, the district is bounded on the south by the North Carolina border and narrows to a head west of Washington, DC. Charlottesville would be a little below the shoulder of the creature. If the torso were quite long, Lynchburg, which is a half hour drive south of Charlottesville, would be at a low waist.
The district is 75% White, 20% Black. The median income is just under $55,000. Democrat Tom Perriello ousted an incumbent Republican Congressman in 2008 by fewer than 1,000 votes, the year when Barack Obama was first elected. Perriello lost by 4% in 2010. Republicans kept winning by double digit margins until 2018. Leslie Cockburn, a left wing journalist was accused of being anti-Israel, lost by six points. Cameron Webb believes he can do better. He believes there will be a large turnout of Democrats in 2020. Yielding him a win.
Cameron Webb was not the favorite when the primary season began. A moderate Democrat with money in his pocket argued he could win by virtue of being moderate. A woman with a powerful story to tell about her experience as a Marine seemed strong. Cameron Webb made good on his claim. He got out the vote. He is young (37), ambitious, and, so far, successful. He led the pack with two thirds of the vote. He finished the primary with less than $150,000. Bob Good , however, had bupkus – about $35,000.
Help Cameron Webb https://www.drcameronwebb.com build a war chest. Elect him. He will be one of the most interesting new Members of Congress. Donate some money to his campaign.
Below are Congressional seats Democrats are trying to flip from incumbent Republicans. The ones with asterisks* ran in 2018. In 2018, Democrats flipped 40 Republican seats in the House. Let’s flip 20 more.
Alaska AL Alyce Galvin* to defeat incumbent Don Young
Arizona 06 Hiral Tipirneni* to defeat incumbent David Schweikert
Arkansas 02. Joyce Elliott to defeat incumbent French Hill
California 25. Christy Smith to defeat incumbent Mike Garcia who won the May special election.
California 50 Ammar Campa-Hajjar* to win this now open Rep seat
Florida 15 Adam Hattersley to defeat incumbent Ross Spano
Florida 16 Margaret Good to defeat incumbent Vern Buchanan
Georgia 07 Carolyn Bordeaux* to win this open seat
Illinois 13 Betsy Dirksen Londrigen* to defeat incumbent Rodney Davis
Indiana 05 Christina Hale to win this open Republican seat
Iowa 04 JD Scholten* to win this open seat
Kansas 02 Michelle De La Isla to defeat incumbent Steve Watkins
Michigan 03. Hillary Scholten to win this open seat
Michigan 06 Jon Hoadley to defeat incumbent Fred Upton
Minnesota 01 Dan Feehan* to defeat incumbent Jim Hagedorn
Missouri 02 Jill Schupp to defeat incumbent Ann Wagner
Montana AL Kathleen Williams* to win this open Republican seat
Nebraska 02. Kara Eastman to defeat incumbent Don Bacon
New York 02 Jackie Gordon to win this open Republican seat
New York 21 Tedra Cobb* to defeat incumbent Elise Stefanic
New York 24 Dana Balter* to defeat incumbent John Katko
North Carolina 09. Cynthia Wallace to defeat incumbent Dan Bishop
Pennsylvania 01 Christina Finello to defeat incumbent Brian Fitzpatrick
Pennsylvania 10 Eugene DePasquale to defeat incumbent Scott Perry
Texas 02 Sima Ladjervardian to defeat incumbent Dan Crenshaw
Texas 21 Wendy Davis to defeat incumbent Chip Roy
Texas 22 Sri Preston Kalkuri to win this open Republican seat
Texas 23 Gina Ortiz Jones* to win this open Republican seat
Texas 24 Kim Olson to win this open Republican seat
Virginia 05 B. Cameron Webb to win this open Republican seat
Washington 03 Carolyn Long* to defeat incumbent Jaime Herrera Beutler
Wisconsin 07 Tricia Zunker to defeat incumbent Tom Tiffany who won the May Special Election
