(Gloria Witt, center, poses with former Democratic Congressional hopefuls Gary Terry, left, and Paul Riley in Danville)
(Danville) — Compared to the raucous GOP Fifth District Congressional primary, Democrats brought a very different vibe to Danville Wednesday as they marked Juneteenth, one day after their primary.
Gloria Tinsley Witt of Amherst County easily won the three-way primary, getting over 57% of the vote. On Wednesday she held a rally at Culture Restaurant in Danville, alongside Gary Terry and Paul Riley—the two Democrats she defeated in the primary.
Both Terry and Riley publicly endorsed Witt’s bid. “I think Gloria is going to do a superb job and I give her my 100% support,” Riley told the crowd. “I plan to help her every step of the way.
Witt will try and end a 16-year winning streak by Republicans in the Fifth District. She says her platform will focus on national and local issues. “Its all about codifying Roe v. Wade to give us our rights back,” Witt said. This refers to the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision which struck down the landmark abortion ruling, sending the issue back to state legislatures.
“Its about upholding democracy and its about education,” Witt added. “My real vision is to do the work so that every high school student graduates with a career technical skill.”
Witt says Democrats will have to get busy over the next four-and-a-half months, but she says it’s doable. “If we can just get every registered Democrat off the sidelines and to the ballot box we will win this thing. We will make District Five blue again,” Witt said.
The last Democrat to win in the fifth was Tom Perriello in 2008. He served one term before losing to Robert Hurt in his re-election bid.