Politics & Government
Why Fimian Lost: A Q&A with the Chairman of the Fairfax County Republican Committee
Anthony Bedell talks about why he thinks the 11th district race turned out the way it did
Anthony Bedell, chairman of the Fairfax County Republican Committee, spoke to Patch about Republican candidate Keith Fimian, his in the 11th district race, and Fairfax County.
How are the Fairfax County Republicans feeling about Fimian's concession?
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"I think overall we're disappointed that we lost the election. I think that we realized once the canvass was finished, we looked over the incident reports and there was really little room to find areas that would impact the recount in a positive manner for Keith, meaning finding additional votes. I think that what you're limited to look at in your recount, which is basically counting the ballots and doing basically what they do for the canvass, it doesn't give much hope we're going to suddenly find 980 votes."
"We looked at the incident reports, and the Fimian legal team did, as well, and while there were some things of concern, there just wasn't anything where we could push through to say there were any inconsistencies or irregularities. So, I think Keith made the right decision and I'm sure it was a tough thing to do. If he thinks there isn't anything to pursue, then we should all support his decision."
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What do you think went wrong, or why did you fall just short of winning?
"I don't think necessarily anything went wrong. The county still leans Democratic and it's very independent. Anytime a Republican is in an election in any part of the county, it's going to be a hard race. And sometimes in those races you come up short. We have to find a way to identify our voters to let them hear our message and get them out to the polls and vote for our candidates."
"I think in the Fairfax County portion of the 11th District, the turnout was 42 percent. I think that's low. I think it should've been higher and if it was higher I think we would've prevailed. I don't want to give anyone the impression that it's not a difficult race in Fairfax. People forget that at the end of 2008, the Washington Post basically wrote off the county and said it was blue forever. We were able to come back and disprove that in 2009 where we had some great success. We need to look forward to 2012 when we'll have the presidential, House and Senate races all on the same ticket."
Do you still see a political future for Fimian in this area?
"Sure, if he wants one. You don't get the amount of votes he received this year and raise the amount of money he raised, close to $3 million, and not have a political future. And I think that's what he should take from this and decompress and think about it. I think he has an opportunity on the state level if he wanted to pursue it, and he certainly has an opportunity down the road in looking at other offices he's interested in. He certainly has a very loyal following and his message still resonates with a lot of Republicans and that always makes you viable."
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