Virginia Primaries 101

We know 2008 was huge, but what about 2009? There are races going on in cities across the country, but we’re also seeing statewide races in New Jersey and Virginia. New Jersey’s primary was last week setting the stage for a showdown between Governor Jon Corzine and former US-Attorney Chris Christie. Just down the road from Rock the Vote headquarters, Virginia is days away from the Democratic Primary.

On Tuesday, June 9^th , Democrats Creigh Deeds, Terry McAuliffe, and Brian Moran face off to win their party’s nomination and determine who will challenge GOP candidate Bob McDonnell. In off-year elections, turnout is key and Rock the Vote wants to be sure young people head to the polls and make their voices heard.  But in order to make your decision, we want to be sure you have the information on the candidates so here is a brief introduction to the each of them and links to their websites to learn more:

State Senator Creigh Deeds was born January 4, 1958 in Richmond, Virginia. Deeds attended Concord College, and later received his JD from Wake Forest University School of Law in 1984. Deeds started out his political life as Bath County prosecutor. He later went on to be a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from 1992 to 2001 and has served in the Senate of Virginia since December 2001. Deeds was the 2005 Democratic nominee for Attorney General of Virginia, but lost to Republican Bob McDonnell by 323 votes. He and his wife, Pam, live in Bath County and they have four children. For more information visit http://www.deedsforvirginia.com

Terry McAuliffe was born February 9, 1957, and grew up in Syracuse New York. He received a bachelor’s degree from Catholic University and later enrolled in law school at Georgetown University. McAuliffe is a longtime fundraiser and political operative for the Democratic Party. He also served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee from February 2001 to February 2005, and was chairman of the 2008 Hillary Clinton presidential campaign. McAuliffe lives in Fairfax County with his wife Dorothy and their five children. For more information, visit http://www.terrymcauliffe.com

Brian Moran was born September 9, 1959 in Natick, Massachusetts. Moran went to the University of Massachusetts at Amherst where he played football, and later graduated from the Columbus School of Law at Catholic University. He was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from 1996 until 2008, representing Northern Virginia’s 46th district. Brian Moran is the youngest of seven children, and his older brother, Jim Moran, represents Virginia’s 8th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. Moran is married and has two children, an 8-year-old daughter and a 6-year-old son. For more information, visit http://www.brianmoran.com

Hope this helps everyone learn a little more about each candidate.  Do not forget to Vote in the primaries on June 9th! (any one can vote regardless of their party affiliation). 

Find more information on your polling location.

Verify voter registration status. 

For more general info visit the Virginia Board of Elections. 

More from the Washington Post.

If you have any links to good information on the candidates please feel free to post them in the comments section!

• 

Tags: Virginia

daniel Bio: Email the author at: blog(at)rockthevote.com

This entry was posted on Friday, June 5th, 2009 at 2:02 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.