For more on the June 18 primaries, see our voter guide.
Crozet resident Paul Riley, an intelligence analyst and U.S. Army veteran, faces Gary Terry, also a veteran and engineer from Danville, and Gloria Witt, a businesswoman and community activist from Amherst County, in the June 18 Democratic primary election. All three are political newcomers.
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But unlike the bitterly fought contest between incumbent Rep. Bob Good, R-Campbell County, and his challenger, state Sen. John McGuire, R-Goochland County, the Democratic nomination contest in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District has been mostly muted, and if the recent candidate forums in Danville and Arrington are an indication, quite civil.
The 5th District encompasses the majority of Southside, including Danville, and also takes in the cities of Charlottesville and Lynchburg. It has been mostly Republican since 2002, when former Democrat-turned-independent Rep. Virgil Goode joined the GOP. Donald Trump won the district with 53% in both 2016 and 2020, and in the 2021 gubernatorial election, Republican Glenn Youngkin defeated Democrat Terry McAuliffe with 60% to 39.4% of the vote.
The only Democrat to hold the district’s congressional seat in recent years was Tom Perriello, who in 2008 defeated Goode with significant Democratic down-ballot coattails from Barack Obama’s successful presidential bid. Perriello lost to Republican Robert Hurt two years later.
Dr. Fergie Reid Jr., who has made it his mission to recruit candidates to run in districts deemed unwinnable by Democratic party leadership through his 90 for 90 Voter Registration Project, said that while the district still was “straight up Republican,” the three-way Democratic primary is an indicator of where the future is going.
“Republicans are burning each other down to the ground and beating themselves up, trying to see how they can get to the furthest on the right to each other? That’s just awesome,” Reid said in a phone interview. “If Republicans keep trying to fight with each other about who can keep going the furthest to the right, they are dying off; they are not speaking to the electorate but to the primary base.”
But despite the unusually crowded field of candidates on the Democratic side this year, David Richards, a political analyst and chair of the political science program at the University of Lynchburg, doesn’t foreshadow a district flip in November.
“Lynchburg and Charlottesville, both in the 5th, may vote for a Democrat — Joe Biden was the first Democrat to win Lynchburg city in over 40 years — but the deep red rural areas that surround both cities will swing the district safely on the GOP side,” Richards said.
Good has continued to build a loyal support base in the district since the spring of 2020, when the former member of the Campbell County Board of Supervisors secured his party’s nomination at a convention in his home county, knocking off then-incumbent Denver Riggleman, who had been criticized by his party’s religious flank for officiating a same-sex wedding.
Good then proceeded to win the general election in November that year, defeating Democrat Cameron Webb, 52.6% to 47.4%. In 2022, he beat Josh Throneburg, the Democratic nominee, by an even wider margin, with 61% of the vote. Throneburg had won his party’s nomination by default after Andy Parker, a gun-control advocate from Henry County and the father of slain Roanoke TV reporter Alison Parker, failed to qualify for the primary ballot.
But Good’s good fortunes changed in November, when McGuire, a state delegate who just days earlier had been elected to represent the newly created state Senate District 10, announced his primary challenge. McGuire has since made the Republican nomination contest in the district a referendum on which candidate is the more loyal supporter of former President Donald Trump.
McGuire was the first Virginia lawmaker during this election cycle to endorse Trump. Good instead backed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for president, and only changed his endorsement to Trump in January, when DeSantis ended his campaign. Last week, Trump rewarded McGuire’s unwavering loyalty by formally endorsing McGuire.
Adding to these difficulties, Good’s renomination fight is forcing him to spend money now instead of during the general election, said Richards, the political scientist.
“So in that way, it hurts the GOP. But really, in a district this red, Good does not have to spend too much in the general election. The only possible scenario where Democrats benefit is if the loser between Good and McGuire decides to run as a write-in candidate.”
Democrats also trail Republicans in the money race by significant margins. The Democratic candidates have raised less than $14,000 among the three of them, while Good and McGuire have raised well over $1.2 million.
“Money isn’t everything, but I think that points to the sleepy nature of the Democratic primary,” Richards said. “They did debate each other in Danville last month, and that was a polite affair, especially compared to the rancor out of the Good and McGuire primary. They were all on the same page, but with the district tilting so far red there has been limited outside interest in the Democratic primary.”
While anything could happen, one can expect whoever wins the GOP primary to easily win in the fall against the Democratic nominee, Richards said. “The election won’t be over on June 18, but I am betting that the drama around June 18 will be a lot more exciting than the general election in November.”
When reached by phone last week, Rick Buchanan, the chair of the district’s Republican committee and a Good loyalist, said he didn’t know much about the Democrats running in his district.
“I am shocked that they are having a runoff for their candidates,” Buchanan said. “I am very happy that they are having a contest so the people can decide.”
Meet the Democrats running in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District:
Paul Riley
A native of Norwich, New York, Paul Riley moved to Florida as a child and graduated from Florida State University in 1989. Today, the U.S. Army veteran lives in Crozet and works as an intelligence analyst for a defense contractor. He is married and has three children.
Riley said in an interview that he has served his country since age 23, first as an active-duty member of the military. After he retired in 2010, he continued to serve supporting the federal government as a contractor for “some pretty robust overseas programs,” Riley said. “The compelling part of me is to always continue my service to the country.”
A Democrat since reaching voting age in 1984, Riley said that his time spent in the military did not change his political views.
“As a matter of fact, the Army reinforced my values as a Democrat because contrary to what many people believe, the United States military is one of the largest Democratic organizations that’s out there, and it does a good job making sure that there is equal opportunity in all the things that are required in a functioning organization,” he said.
But because of his military background and his moderate political positions, Riley said that he is often misjudged.
“I’ve been to a couple of Democratic areas and they told me I sound like a Republican, but I take umbrage with that,” he said. “I don’t sound like a Republican, I sound like a person who wants to get things done. It shouldn’t be about whether you are a Republican or a Democrat; it should be about whose position is best to represent this district in Washington.”
Riley maintains his friendships from his time in the Army to this day, and among them are many Republicans. “My ideas resonate not only with the Democrats but with the center-right Republicans. I am not talking about the fringe or the MAGA, because there’s no getting into their heads,” he said, referring to the Trump campaign’s Make America Great Again movement.
Riley considers Good and McGuire to be cut from the same cloth.
“They have no policies, they stand for nothing,” he said. “Bob Good is the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, which is a misnomer, because there’s nothing free about their caucus, they want to take away rights. They are the antithesis of patriotism and of good government — to do nothing and to vote ‘no’ consistently. You can go around and ask people, Republicans and Democrats in this district, have they seen their congressman, and the answer is no. He does nothing for people.”
The highly contentious primary battle between Good and McGuire gives Democrats an opening to make gains in a heavily Republican district, Riley said.
“I think it’s 100% a good thing for Democrats, because not only does it highlight the dysfunction within the Republican Party, but that they can’t even agree on the commonality of anything. They are trying to outdo each other,” he said.
“I know people that have used pretty bad expletives against Bob Good, and his opponent has no platform. All he is trying to do is out-MAGA Good, who is out of favor with Trump. I think the Democrats have a real solid shot, regardless of who the candidate is, to take this district back and put it into the Democratic bucket. I think people are just fed up with the dysfunction, and they can see this Congress is a do-nothing Congress, they pass no bills.”
Among the major challenges facing his district, Riley lists education, a lack of teachers, high taxes and the climate-change related impact on agriculture.
“I think there’s a disparity in taxes that not only affects myself but a majority of the people in the district because we are heavily middle-class and predominantly we pay the most of the taxes,” Riley said. “And to me, education goes hand in hand with infrastructure, because there’s a lack of teachers, a lack of broadband. We’ve got to go a little faster than we are going.”
Riley said that what makes him stand out from his two primary challengers — with whom he said he gets along “fantastically” — is his military experience.
“I’ve been stationed in three different countries and I’ve been deployed to six different countries across the world, and I have lived in every geographical area of the United States,” he said. “So I bring a pretty holistic approach to how to negotiate, how to be a true leader and bring people to the table and gain consensus. I bring a pretty wide variety of skill sets to the table that I think will play well in Congress.”
Among other priorities, Riley mentioned passing the updated Equality Act, which prohibits discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation or gender identity with respect to businesses, employment, housing, federally funded programs and other settings, and the Women’s Health Protection Act, which prohibits governmental restrictions on the provision of, and access to, abortion services.
“It’s absolutely essential that we protect the rights and health of women,” Riley said. “We can’t wait and we can’t keep kicking that can down the road; we’ve got to get this stuff done.”
When asked which Republican candidate he would rather run against in the general election, Riley said that it wouldn’t matter.
“I’ll take them both on, honestly,” he said. “Bob Good has no platform to run on. I don’t know him personally, but I know his policies and I don’t like them. They don’t represent what I think the vast majority of this district is. McGuire is running on the fact that he is a veteran, but so am I. And he is not trustworthy because he broke his word that he wasn’t going to run for Congress.”
Gary Terry
Gary Terry is a Kentucky native and a 1982 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
After serving five years in Germany and at Fort Bliss, Texas, Terry left the military to work first as an engineer for Corning Glass Works and then as a quality and operations manager for the General Electric Lighting Division.
For the last three years, Terry has lived in Danville, where he has worked as an executive director for the YMCA and CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Danville Area. He has three sons and a granddaughter.
Terry said in a recent interview that during his work as an organizer, he gets to “see people not doing well,” an experience that inspired his bid for Congress.
“There are some food insecurities going on, and some kids eat only once a day. And then there are housing insecurities,” he said. “I ran into a couple of single-parent families last month that are living in a car. And our kids are living with trauma after what’s been going on with the pandemic. I feel like I need to do something. I’ve also always been a defender of people my whole life, and that makes me the best candidate.”
On a national level, the rights of Americans are being infringed upon, including voting rights, LGBTQ+ rights and women’s right to have an abortion, Terry added. “With my military background, I feel like it’s my duty to step up and do something,” he said.
Earlier in life, he considered himself a Republican, Terry said. “But it was a different party then — we’re talking about 40-plus years ago. I don’t agree with what’s going on on the right, the issues they are having with not being able to come together. And I think they are on the wrong side when we talk about social issues.”
While he has been a Democrat for at least 30 years, Terry said that he has remained faithful to some Republican values, including fiscal conservatism and his belief in a strong national defense.
“But I think there’s some waste there, and if we can eliminate some of that, then some of that money could go back to helping the people in the district. I’m also a progressive when it comes to social issues, and I have more in common with the Democratic Party than with the Republican Party,” he said.
The 5th Congressional District, Terry said, faces a wide array of diverse challenges today.
“On the Southside, what I see are a lot of folks that have food and housing insecurities, and trauma in their families. In some of the more urban areas, people are concerned with some of their rights being trampled on,” he said. “We need to make sure that everyone is enjoying the economic prosperity that’s really out there but that people aren’t feeling yet. That means good-paying jobs; people shouldn’t have to work two or three jobs just to make ends meet.”
Terry doesn’t consider winning the trust of conservative voters as a Democrat a significant hurdle on the campaign trail.
“I think we just have to go and talk to them. There are no common enemies, there are only common issues,” he said. “And I’ve come across a lot of Republicans who don’t like the options that they have on the R side. Those are the folks that we have to talk to, and we have to show them that there is a good alternative to the tribalism that’s rampant across the country. If they can see and feel that there is someone who is interested in them, I think that’s how we win an election.”
In the district’s GOP primary, Good and McGuire have been allowed to share their talking points mostly unchecked, Terry said.
“They are part of that extreme right. Part of the problem that we’ve had on the Democratic side is that we’ve never countered any of these false things that they put out there,” he said. “As Democrats, we get the job done, but we haven’t been really good at messaging. What I plan to do is, every time there’s a false statement that’s out there, we’re going to counter that, because people need to know. If you don’t counter that, then they own that space.”
Following the ferocious Republican nomination contest from up close, Terry said he believes that the often nasty exchanges between Good and McGuire will help Democrats win over voters who might be on the fence.
“I think people are tired of that, and they want to unite around something that is more normal. We went through four years of President Trump, and I know I would wake up stressed with, what’s happening today with this guy? And I think people are jumping off of that train. I think we have the best opportunity in a long time to turn this district blue because of folks who are not satisfied with what’s going on with those firebrands and wanting something that’s normal.”
When knocking on doors around the district, Terry said that instead of talking about his Republican opponents, he tries to drive home a more positive political message. “There is only one label for me, and that’s the American label,” he said.
Terry also vows to fight for women’s right to have access to safe abortions — with some restrictions. “I do not believe in late-term abortions unless it is for the mother’s health,” he said, adding that the government “shouldn’t be in the middle of a mother and her doctor in saying that this is the way you have to do that.”
Should he become the nominee, Terry said he’s not too concerned about which Republican he’d face come November. “I don’t think it matters, because both are those firebrand folks and people are jumping off of that wagon,” he said.
“With Bob Good, we know what his record is; he’s done nothing for the people of the 5th District. The other guy, he ran for the Senate and then promised that he wouldn’t run for Congress, and promptly turned around and did that, so I don’t know if he’s trustworthy. So to me, it doesn’t matter who we run against. Folks are tired of the divisive culture war politics.”
Gloria Witt
Born and raised in Amherst County, Gloria Witt has always considered herself a country girl.
“I grew up on a small farm, and we survived on that farm,” Witt said in a recent interview. “I’m talking about hauling water from the spring to cook, bathe and clean, and killing and butchering hogs, and raising a large garden, so I understand farming because I’ve witnessed it.”
But Witt is also a businesswoman with a 32-year career with global energy leader Framatome (formerly AREVA), and a mother and grandmother. She serves the community as a board member of several organizations, including as president of the NAACP Amherst County branch and as a board member with the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities.
It was the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade two years ago that sparked Witt’s interest in serving in Congress. “That kind of got me out of my seat, and I was shocked when I realized that my three granddaughters will not have the same rights as I have enjoyed if we don’t activate,” she said.
And when the court one year later ended affirmative action in college admissions after 45 years, Witt said she knew she had to do something. “That was a dog whistle to America that says, ‘We have arrived. It’s no longer necessary to open doors for women and people of color.’”
With 40 years in community service, Witt said her ambition has always been driven by her values of faith, family, justice and community building. “When these two things happened, it just tapped in on my calls. That got me inspired, and I guess the tipping point was realizing that people are making it to Congress who are loud, but they really don’t care about We the People.”
Good, the incumbent in the 5th District, “is not good, because he has marginalized himself to the far right,” Witt said. “America is too diverse to govern like that. I really feel like I’m ready for the moment and a voice like mine is needed to bring this country together and move us forward.”
Witt’s experience as a community organizer and businesswoman, including as the founder and CEO of Define Success Coaching, a company committed to developing the next generation of executives and leaders, makes her a suitable candidate to take on Good, she said.
“I can listen, compromise, collaborate and help groups make decisions,” she said. “We cannot govern a diverse country standing on the outer edges. We got to look for common ground and press toward the betterment of America. I think I have a voice in this moment to be in the halls of Congress to make that happen or to at least lift it up, and I don’t see that skill set a lot in Congress. There are too many people who are getting elected for being marginalized.”
Witt believes her skill set is “really a super power in today’s world, being able to appreciate differences, know how to talk to anybody and connect for the common good.”
The 2024 election, Witt said, is unique and critical in the nation’s history, because democracy and freedom are on the ballot. “If we are voting for the previous president, we are losing it all. He has told us he is going to be a dictator, and we need to believe it,” she said, referring to Trump’s remarks from December, when he vowed to be an autocrat — but only on day one of his second administration, should he get elected.
If given the opportunity to serve the 5th District in Congress, Witt said that she would make education a top priority, particularly the broadening of career and technical skills training in the K-12 system.
“We are graduating young people who cannot afford to go to a four-year school, they don’t have transportation to get to a two-year school, or they decide to go to the military. Either of these are a pathway to success, but what happens to everybody else?” Witt said.
“To me, we grow economic development by building a talented workforce through the K-12 system so they are ready to work, and that will allow current businesses to expand and attract new businesses. That’s the spot that I want to focus on.”
Another of Witt’s priorities is the expansion of accessible healthcare, especially for women. “There are places in our district that do not have OB/GYN services within a 60-mile radius, and that’s unconscionable,” she said.
And despite her support of the Second Amendment — “Remember, I am a country girl” — Witt said that she also supports more federal regulations relating to guns. “We need to ban assault weapons, and I think that we need to register guns. Background checks and red flag laws need to be elevated to the federal level, because for the most part Virginia has done a great job.”
Although she is running in a mostly rural, Republican-leaning district, Witt said that her campaign isn’t too concerned with tapping into the base of conservative voters.
“I am really not focusing on the conservative world. I am focusing on registering Democrats to vote,” she said. “I’m not so certain that this is a staunch Republican district. I think we have to energize people to vote. There are a lot of disgruntled voters, but if we get enough disgruntled voters to vote, that’s how we are making change happen, and I am hopeful that rational people can look at our options.”
Witt said that she agrees with her primary opponents that the callous GOP nomination contest will benefit Democrats in the district.
“When I win on June 18, I just can’t wait to debate their winner, because they are showing up poorly as they unveil the viciousness that they are both contributing to,” Witt said, referring to Good and McGuire, his Republican challenger.
But if given a choice, Witt said she’d much rather face Good in the general election.
“He has made so many unconscionable decisions,” she said. “The people that I interact with, including my conservative friends, are embarrassed to have him as our representative. He would be a wonderful challenger, because there’s evidence of how bad he is. In corporate America, if you don’t perform, you go home. Bob Good needs to go home.”
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Correction 2:45 p.m. June 3: Because of the state’s so-called “sore loser” law, the loser of the Good-McGuire primary cannot appear on the November ballot as an independent but could run as a write-in candidate. An earlier version of this story was incorrect on that point.
