Former Congressman Tom Perriello, the Democratic challenger in the race for Virginia’s 5th Congressional District, conceded his campaign’s defeat Thursday evening two days after the election.
Perriello called incumbent Republican Rep. John McGuire on Thursday to congratulate him on his reelection and to wish him well on his second term in Congress, according to a statement from Perriello’s campaign.
“I am grateful to the voters and more than 1,000 volunteers who helped us build a grassroots campaign that moved all 24 counties in the district in our direction, helped to flip the Lynchburg City Council, and almost defied the odds to flip a district that was 15-points ruby red, just two years ago,” Perriello said in the statement.
His campaign added that there are more than 7,000 provisional and absentee ballots still to be counted, and they expect McGuire’s margin of victory to narrow from its current 2.2 percentage points. Regardless, the campaign said they no longer see “a path for changing the outcome.”
As of election night, the race was too close to call. The Associated Press called the race in McGuire’s favor at 11:59 a.m. Thursday morning, with 98% of the vote counted.
The slim margin represents a significant swing left in a district that has been historically solidly Republican. McGuire was first elected to Congress in 2024 with a 15 point margin over his Democratic challenger. In 2025, the Republican gubernatorial candidate Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears won in the district by a 7.6 percentage point margin even as Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger went on to win with a 15 percentage point margin statewide.
Perriello had been elected to represent Virginia’s 5th District with a margin of roughly 700 votes in 2008, during the same wave that saw former President Barack Obama become the first Democratic presidential candidate to win in the commonwealth since 1964. Perriello lost his reelection bid in 2010 by a 3.8 percentage point margin. Virginia’s congressional maps had been redrawn twice since then, shifting the 5th District slightly more conservative with each round of redistricting.
The “near-upset” reflects a change in the political landscape of Virginia’s Fifth District, according to Perriello’s campaign.
“I’ve been fighting for our communities long before this campaign, and I will continue to fight long after the last vote is counted so that we can prevent this generational assault on rural and maternal healthcare, end this war to bring down costs and establish guardrails on artificial intelligence that can protect our kids, our jobs, and our future. This is a generational emergency, and it demands urgency from everyone who has the ability to help,” Perriello said in a statement.
McGuire’s campaign declined to comment on Perriello’s concession.
“By the grace of God we won. Two days after Election Day, the AP finally declared our race a victory, something Decision Desk formally projected on election night,” the Congressman said in a post on X on Thursday. “I’m honored and humbled by the trust of Virginia’s Fifth District and look forward to continuing to serve our communities, fight for conservative values, and deliver results for the district we call home.”
