
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 17, 1994                    TAG: 9406160200 
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON                     PAGE: 26    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT 
DATELINE: 940617                                 LENGTH: Medium

ROBB AND CHAPMAN PREVAIL AT POLLS\

{LEAD} Virginia Beach voters stayed home from the polls for the most part Tuesday, but the 12 percent who did show up helped Sen. Charles S. Robb earn a chance at re-election and Jim Chapman a second shot at unseating Rep. Owen B. Pickett.

Voters in all but one Virginia Beach precinct faced the unusual task of first deciding which of two ballots they would punch. Democrats were holding a statewide primary the same day as a Republican primary in the 2nd Congressional District, and voters were allowed to vote in one or the other primary, but not both.

{REST} Most opted to help the Democrats decide their candidate. Robb won 71 percent of the 10,295 votes cast in Virginia Beach, where he fared even better than he did statewide. The former governor won 58 percent of the vote across Virginia.

State Sen. Virgil H. Goode Jr. garnered 21 percent of the Beach vote, finishing a distant second but well ahead of Richmond lawyer Sylvia C. Clute and Lyndon LaRouche follower Nancy B. Spannaus.

Robb's victory, however, was only a warm-up to the big dance scheduled in November. Again, he'll face three challengers: Republican nominee Oliver L. North and independents J. Marshall Coleman and L. Douglas Wilder.

North won the Republican nod at at state convention earlier this month. Former Gov. Wilder announced his independent candidacy Tuesday and former state Attorney General Coleman followed suit Thursday.

In the Republican primary Tuesday, voters in the 2nd District selected Chapman over state Del. Frank Wagner to try and unseat Democrat Owen Pickett in Congress.

Chapman, a maritime lawyer who lost to Pickett two years ago, won with 60 percent of the vote in the 2nd District, which includes nearly all of Virginia Beach and most of Norfolk. The winning margin was nearly identical in the two cities. Chapman outpolled Wagner, 5,688 to 4,276, in Virginia Beach alone.

The only Virginia Beach precinct not in the 2nd District is Centerville in west Kempsville. The precinct covers an area running west of Indian River Road to the Chesapeake city line and south of Kempsville Road to the Stumpy Lake Golf Course. Voters there live in the 4th District.

Republican George Sweet, pastor of Atlantic Shores Baptist Church, will challenge 4th District congressman Norman Sisisky, a Democrat, in November.

{KEYWORDS} U.S SENATE RACE CANDIDATE PRIMARY ELECTION RESULTS

by CNB