Republican candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives won their elections in the 5th, 6th and 9th Congressional districts Tuesday evening.
State Sen. John McGuire beat Gloria Witt to represent the 5th Congressional District. Incumbent U.S. Representatives Ben Cline and Morgan Griffith beat their challengers, Ken Mitchell and Karen Baker, in the 6th and 9th Congressional districts, respectively.
The three Republicans won in Southwest Virginia just days after former President Donald Trump held a last-minute campaign rally in Salem, in an attempt to run up the Republican vote in a region considered to be a conservative stronghold. The former president and Republican speakers at the event, including McGuire, Cline and Griffith, insisted that Virginia was “in-play” for conservatives seeking statewide federal office.
Republican Rep. Bob Good beat his Democratic challenger in 2022 by a margin of 15.4 percentage points in the 5th District. Cline won the 2022 race by a margin of 29 percentage points, and Griffith won by a margin of 46.7 percentage points.
Here’s how each of the three Congressional races shook out this year.
5th Congressional District
McGuire won the election to represent the 5th Congressional District with a 13 percentage-point margin over Witt, his challenger, when the Associated Press called the race at around 10:50 p.m., nearly four hours after the polls closed Tuesday night.
“Representing the people of this district will be a great honor and I deeply appreciate the team effort and support that got us here,” McGuire said in a statement. “I look forward to fighting for this great district — our country needs to change course, and I will be a strong, consistent voice to get us back to President Trump’s America First conservative principles and values.”
Witt’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding her loss.
Trump had endorsed McGuire, who has served in the General Assembly since 2017, in the June primary against Good. McGuire won that race and a subsequent recount with about 370 votes over Good.
6th Congressional District
Cline won re-election to represent the 6th Congressional District with a 33 percentage-point margin over Mitchell, his challenger, when the Associated Press called the race. By 11 p.m., that margin had shrunk to 27 percentage points.
The race was called at around 9 p.m., two hours after the polls closed Tuesday night.
Neither the Cline nor the Mitchell campaign responded immediately to a request for comment.
Cline has represented the 6th District since 2019. Before he was elected to Congress, Cline served as a Delegate in the General Assembly since 2002.
9th Congressional District
Griffith won re-election to represent the 9th Congressional District with a 48 percentage-point margin over Baker, his challenger, when the race was called by the Associated Press around 9 p.m. At 11 p.m., that margin was 45 percentage points.
Baker conceded at 8:30, an hour and a half after the polls closed Tuesday night.
In her concession statement, Baker called on Griffith to “refocus his priorities and energies in the 9th District, which has not seen the economic recovery experienced in more urban areas of the Commonwealth.”
“Mr. Griffith has focused on issues such as border security, immigration, and reduced Government regulation of corporations, as well as making permanent the 1.3 trillion-dollar [sic] tax cut for large corporations. These are not issues that greatly affect the quality of daily life in [Southwest Virginia],” she said.
Griffith’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding his win.
Griffith has represented the 9th Congressional District since 2011. Before he was elected to Congress, Griffith served as a delegate in the General Assembly since 1994.