Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Ward Armstrong Endorses Jody Wagner for Governor

House Minority Leader Ward Armstrong has announced his support for Jody Wagner in the Lt. Governor's race today. From the Washington Post:

Former finance secretary Jody Wagner picked up the endorsement of the highest ranking Democrat in the House of Delegates, Ward L. Armstrong, in her bid for lieutenant governor.

Armstrong, the House minority leader, cited Wagner's experience as a member of Timothy M. Kaine and Mark R. Warner's administrations.

"Having seen firsthand the work she did in the Warner and Kaine administrations to help fix the state's fiscal problems...I know she has the right experience to balance our budget and maintain Virginia as the best managed state and best state for business,'' Armstrong said. "As an elected official, and more importantly as a Virginian, I trust Jody Wagner to keep Virginia moving forward."

Three other Democrats are running: Jon Bowerbank, a businessman from Russell County, Pat Edmonson, a member of the Virginia Beach School Board and Michael Signer, an attorney who worked for former governor Mark R. Warner.

I had heard that this was coming. It will be interesting to see how this affects the LG race on the Democratic side. With the recent PPP poll that showed a substantial lead for Wagner, it appears there is some momentum moving in her direction; then again, a lot can happen in the two months remaining before the primary.

2 comments:

Bryan said...

I think one important thing to note about the recent PPP poll is the fact that almost 70% of voters don't know who they're going to be voting for. This means the race is likely going to be coming down to who has the resources to get their message out to the voters.

Dan Drummond said...

This is a big deal. The Lt. Governor is also the president of the senate when the General Assembly is in session. Having Jody there will not only make a difference in getting progressive policies through the senate, but having a strong working relationship with the next speaker of the House (that would be Ward) is vital to ensure Virginia keeps moving forward.