Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 8, 1995 TAG: 9511080048
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FINCASTLE LENGTH: Medium
Republican challengers took two of four courthouse offices from incumbent Democrats. Democrats, however, managed to hold control of the Board of Supervisors with two incumbents withstanding GOP challenges.
Republican Joel Branscom snatched the commonwealth's attorney's office from one-term Democrat Rob Hagan Jr. with 63 percent of the vote, and Republican Jay Etlzer took the commissioner of revenue's office away from Democrat Steven Wampler, another one-term incumbent, by a 2-1 margin.
Sheriff Reed Kelly, a first-term Democrat, beat off a challenge by independent candidate Scott Beard, who had at first sought to run as a Republican. Kelly took 58 percent of the vote and was on the verge of declaring victory as early as 8:20 p.m. after the large Cloverdale precinct gave him 886 votes to 374 for Beard.
Incumbent Democratic Supervisors Wendy Wingo in the Blue Ridge District and Bill Loope in the Valley District beat back challenges by Republicans Art Pendleton and Paul Graybill by comfortable margins. Republican Bonnie Barger Mayo was re-elected unopposed to the Fincastle seat on the Board of Supervisors.
Treasurer Benton Bolton, a two-term Democrat, faced no opposition and is headed for a third term in that office.
Branscom, who faced off against Hagan in the premier race in Botetourt, said his victory was not a reflection on his opponent but on the changing nature of the county's population, which is becoming more suburban - and oriented toward Roanoke. "Rob is a good attorney, and he's done a lot of good work for the county," said Branscom, a 36-year-old assistant prosecutor in Roanoke.
Although he won in all 17 of the county's voting precincts, Branscom seemed a little surprised by his large margin of victory. "I had no clue whether I would win or lose," he said as he celebrated with fellow Republicans at GOP headquarters in Daleville.
"In a local election, you kind of work in the dark, and you don't know how you're doing," Branscom said. "A lot of people put in a lot of hard work."
Branscom said he appreciates the kind of campaign Hagan ran. "He was a gentleman all the way," he said.
Despite being a challenger, Branscom, who has 10 years of experience as an assistant prosecutor, campaigned as the more experienced candidate in his race against Hagan.
"One point I'd like to make," Branscom said, "is that, in the commonwealth's attorney's position, the race is the only partisan part of it. I intend to be a commonwealth's attorney for everybody in the county."
In contrast to Branscom, Kelly appeared confident as he tallied incoming votes at the Circuit Court clerk's office in Fincastle even as the earliest returns had him in a tight contest with Beard. Kelly said he had been counting on 60 percent of the vote, and when the night was over lacked only 2 percentage points from making his goal.
"That's it," Kelly said when totals from the Rainbow Forest precinct were called in at 8:25 on the heels of his big Cloverdale precinct victory. Rainbow Forest gave Kelly 534 votes to Beard's 272.
"All you can do is run the best campaign you can and hope the voters appreciate your efforts," Kelly said as he savored his victory. Asked his plans now, Kelly said he would keep running his office the way he has for the past four years.
Asked about the loss of his two fellow Democrats in the commonwealth's attorney and commissioner of revenue offices, Kelly said he didn't know what kind of message the voters were trying to send. "They both ran a good, clean campaign, and the voters made their decision," he said.
In other county races, James Ruhland, an independent incumbent, was re-elected unopposed to the Blue Ridge District seat on the School Board and Sally Eads, another independent incumbent, took 45 percent of the vote in beating challengers David Emeigh and Jack Leffel, both independents, to retain her Fincastle District seat on the School Board.
Although she lost her race overall, Republican challenger Trixie Averill bested incumbent Democrat Richard Cranwell in the 14th District House of Delegates race in all seven Botetourt County precincts that were involved in that race.
Keywords:
ELECTIONS
by CNB