Election Case Study- Virginia’s 4th Congressional District (VA -04)

Election Case Study: Virginia’s 4th Congressional District (VA -04)
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Abstract
Virginia’s 4th Congressional District is a United States Congressional region that is situated in the state of Virginia. This district was redrawn as a result of a ruling that indicated that the state maps previously in use were unconstitutional. Both the fourth and the third were redrawn when the court ruled that the Legislature had illegally packed African American voters into the third District with the aim to strengthen the Republican Political Party within the surrounding districts.
In preparation for the recently concluded elections, the district prepared through two primary steps. First involved the filling of the candidate deadline followed by the primary elections. Primary elections are where voters registered select a candidate they who faith should be the candidate for a political party in the general elections. This is one way used to select both the convention and the party delegates. The two principals in the ballot were the Republican’s Mike Wade and the Democrat’s Donald McEachin. Both parties in this district held a primary where they determined the two individuals above who run for office in the general elections. This essay evaluates the performance of each person’s lives and the outcomes of the general election.
Election Case Study: Virginia’s 4th Congressional District (VA -04)
Question One: Background and Experience of the Major Candidates
Donald McEachin
Donald was born on October 10th, 1961 in Germany.

He was raised in Richmond and attended St. Christopher’s School in his childhood and later joined the American University where he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in political history. He acceded to the University of Virginia school of law where he received a J.D. he further got a master in Dignity from Virginia Union University. He started practicing in his career as a lawyer after completing his law school and successfully became a partner in his law firm.
His political career began when he was first elected in 1995 to the House of Delegates from the 74th District. He worked in this office three times after which he ran for the Attorney General of Virginia where he won a four-way Democratic primary but lost the general election. Over the last twenty years, he has been a citizen legislator, a first delegate and as a senator. In his tenure, he worked to protect the most vulnerable citizens and to defend the rights of all those persons living in Virginia. He sponsored the Virginia state Senate Act, a bill which saw severe limitation of the state and local enforcement agencies the use of unmanned aircraft drone. He ran for the elective seat in 2016 as a Democrat and won the election against his opponent Mike Wade. Based on his political experiences and professional experiences, it is clear that Donald ran for the position with the hope that his experience would help him. This is seen his campaigns and endorsements.
Mike Wade
Mike Wade was raised in Virginia and started his education in the same neighborhood. He did his Bachelor’s Degree at the Virginia Commonwealth University where he attained a degree in Administration of Justice. He later proceeded to do Rehab Counseling, Alcohol and Drug Program Education in the same institution and completed it in 1986. Mike Wade has never served in the caucuses nor non-legislative committees in his lifetime. Additionally, he had no political experience while running for office in the just concluded election in the U.S, Virginia’s 4th District.
Mike’s professional experience includes working as a Sheriff in Henrico County where he preached a pro-life, smaller government conservativeness and pro-gun sobriety among the Virginians. He also worked at the Attorney’s Investigator Liason in the Commonwealth of Virginia. At some point, he worked as a Command Sergeant at the Henrico Police Division before becoming a Sheriff. Furthermore, Mike Wade also worked as a Supervisor at the School Resource and Drug Abuse Resistance Education Centre where he practiced his career as a reformist and helped several students during their rehab program. As part of religion and civic duty, he was a co-chair of the American Correctional Associations Substance Abuse Committee as well as the Co-Founder of the Recovery in Secure Environment (RISE) Program. He was seeking an elective post to represent Virginia’s Fourth District as a Republican. He, however, lost his bid to the Democrat candidate, Donald McEachin.
Question Two: How Each Candidate Used the Media to Express Their Positions
In his bid for the elective position, Mike Wade highlighted his experiences that he gained as sheriff would help the people of Virginia grow into a future where the children would live to get what they have built. In one of his interviews, he says that “As Sheriff of Henrico County I have made finding solutions to address mental health and substance abuse issues a hallmark of my time in office”. He points out that the two issues he mentioned above are the key elements destroying the community and hurting the people and called for an opportunity to make use of his possible solutions concerning the issues. His highlights were made both online and in interviews.
Mike also pled that someone with common sense law experience was needed in the position he was seeking through his website. In his experience, he used the site to point out that he had worked for as long as 17years as one of the policemen in the Country, where he assisted those in positions to serve the people while trying to build a more efficient government with the less bureaucratic burden and responsibility together with conservatism. He further pursued the people that having him elected would give him an opportunity to practice what he had always preached, the pro-life, government conservatism and pro-gun.
On the other hand, Donald highlighted his professional experiences as well as those he acquired in his earlier political life both in his website, Facebook page, Twitter handle and during his interviews both in the print media and Television campaigns. In his highlights, Donald puts forth the fight he had had as a legislator in Virginia’s General Assembly to protect the minority and vulnerable citizens. He brings out his works which created jobs, improved the public schools’ conditions and enhanced access to health care. In his campaign, Donald points out his work over the years as a champion to progression, with leading efforts to promote equality, fight against violence and protect the environment. These were the prerogative of his earlier career before he joined politics.
Donald in his words says that he was seeking to the Congress for the reason that he had enough backward agendas and offensive language in the Capital. In an interview, he had the following to say regarding his candidacy, “In my Career, I’ve spent a great deal trying to fight the underdog both in his practice as a lawyer and even in the general assembly. I will also fight for the minority citizens as a way to champion the developmental priorities for the Virginian citizens”. He further made use of his site to make tag line themes purposely to reach his supporters. One of the campaign issues on his website, for instance, pledged for safety and security in the neighborhoods making it clear that families must have a feeling of security while in their yards, playgrounds, and churches. This is a way to show that he made use of these platforms in his campaigns.
Question Three: Money Each Candidate Raised and Spent While Running For Office
Running for a political seat is a hard task that requires financing from different persons for every candidate. The money raised while vying for an administrative office is used for campaign purposes especially paying for advertisements. Campaign are expensive activities and therefore the participants must have enough money to guarantee their win. This is the reason the two candidates, both Donald McEachin and Mike Wade had to seek for donors funds. To begin with, Donald McEachin raised a total of $700,294.05 and spent a total of $313,874.65 in the campaigns remaining with $386,419.40 as cash on hand. The funds were received as donations from well-wishers such as United Food and Commercial Workers Union who contributed $20,000.00, and the National Beer Wholesalers Federation gave $15,000.00, the Lawyers/law firm as well provided $103,772.00, Leadership PACs and even the Public Sector Unions giving $54,000 NS $41,000 respectively. Many more companies and individuals made the donations and contributions in support of their favorite candidate. The contributions were solely made through an online portal where friends, supporters would join the campaign team and make contributions according to the amounts they were able to contribute (Vote Smart, 2016). The money received was used to cater for various campaign activities such as creating posters, traveling, advertisements and paying wages to workers.
Mike Wade also received donations by calling of donors’ support and that of his supporters through his online portal and even through checks. The total amount raised for Mike’s campaign was $116,577.00 out of which a total of $112,488.98 was spent. This means that $4,088.02 was the cash at hand. Some of the principal donors towards this contribution included the Dominion Auto Group who gave $10,800.00, Mao Inc. as well gave the same amount of $10,800.00, Automotive as the top industry in this fundraiser gave $11,050.00, and the Lawyers/Law Firms gave $6,200.00 towards the campaign. All these donations were made by persons in support of their candidate, the companies, and industries having different political interests (Vote Smart, 2016). The donations that Mike received used them for various campaign activities such as paying wages, traveling, media advertisements and creating campaign banners.

Question Four: Role Endorsements Played in the Election
Endorsements in the political arena played a significant role during the campaigns in so many ways. First, is that it increased the recognition and establishment of acknowledgment of a candidate. Carly Fiorina, for instance, endorsed Mike Wade for Congress. Through her endorsement, she posed Mike Wade as a willing servant whom the citizens could depend on. Being the former Republican Presidential Candidate, her approval reached out to her supporters and made Mike known to them and hence increasing the number of fans to an extent. Senator John Cosgrove also endorsed Mike through his statements that Mike would be an effective conservative leader with the ability to voice the Virginian’s grievances. Through his endorsement, most of his supporters were groomed to provide support for Mike’s candidacy as well. Endorsements solely play a role in providing political backing and providing insight into the excellent candidate to persons most trusted by the public (Veer et al., 2010).
Endorsements further make a candidate garner positive media attention and therefore, hopefully, increase the poll numbers of the candidate endorsed. Its attention also stretches to the donors whose contribution is very crucial in funding the campaigns. They provide an opportunity for party leaders to point out the best candidates with temperament, experience and intelligence to run the country. Through endorsement, a candidate gains massive popularity which has a big influence on the election results. Donald was the candidate who was most favored by endorsements. This is because he had engaged himself with political issues for a very long period. He began his political career in 1995 after been elected to the House of Delegates from the 74th district. He worked in this office for three times, therefore, he had strong connections with famous people. Also, Donald had worked as a citizen legislator and as a senator and therefore he had strong links with famous people, who endorsed him. Donald McEachin received endorsement supports from political allies and corporate friends such as Lieutenant Ralph Northam, Governor Terry McAuliffe, the Virginia Credit Union League, Equality Virginia and many celebrities who were veterans in their fields. It is, therefore, safe to say the two candidates got endorsement support.
Question Five: Results of the Election
Virginia’s District 4 General Election saw Donald McEachin win it by 83.6%, an equivalence of 164,092 of the overall vote. Mike Wade, on the other hand, got a total of 16.4% whose equivalence is 32,186 votes. This means that Donald McEachin won the election by a margin of 131,906 votes. Donald McEachin’s win, in my opinion, was expected as he had done massive campaigns to increase his popularity. However, the margin was too big and beyond many people’s expectations ( New York Times, 2016). Initially, people thought the election would be a real contest between the two candidates, but the margin proved otherwise.
Many reasons gave people the belief that Donald would win against his opponent Mike Wade. First of all, Donald’s professional career gave him the needed background to align his goals for Virginian people accordingly. As a Democrat who had served in the legislator in Virginia’s General Assembly, his abilities could easily be traced and put on display for the potential supporters to know. This is one of the ways through which he acquired more voters to his ballot. His success in business as well gave people the impression of a performer and a strategist both in the civilian world and the corporate world and as always, people would go for such a person. Additionally, he had received backing from influential individuals and industries who endorsed him and helped him garner supporters. His funds and donations as well went far beyond that of his competitor which means his campaign was wider and reaching to individuals at the grassroots level.
Mike Wade’s, in my opinion, would lose the elections, but with a lesser margin nonetheless. The 131,906 margin is, therefore, more than I had expected. My expectations were as a result of the endorsements that Wade received from an extensive list of both the state and local Republican officials as a conservative. These officials included such persons as Chesapeake Sen. John Cosgrove and senators from the Richmond area. Given Wade’s squeaky-clean reputation, he stood a chance to acquire more votes which would go against the margin created. Going by the funds and contributions, the likelihood of failure increased and that is why in my opinion, Donald won.
References
Times, T. N. (2016). Virginia General Results. The New York Times.
Veer, E., Becirovic, I., & Martin, B. A. (2010). If Kate voted conservative, would you? The role of celebrity endorsements in political party advertising. European journal of marketing, 44(3-1), 436-450.
Vote Smart. (2016). Spy. Retrieved On November 2016 on http://votesmart.org/candidate/campaign-finance/8230/donald-mceachin#.WCyVyTUmusE