Botetourt voters joined the rest of Virginia in the Republican sweep that is sending Bob McDonnell to the Governor’s mansion in January.
They also helped return Independent Lacey Putney to the 19th District House of Delegates seat and send Republican Bill Cleaveland to Richmond for the first time as the representative from the 17th House District.
Buchanan Election District voters must have liked the incumbents on the Board of Supervisors and School Board because those voters overwhelmingly provided Terry Austin and Kathy Sullivan with fourth terms on the local two boards.
Steve Clinton and Ruth Wallace also were re-elected as supervisor and School Board representative from the Amsterdam District. They were both unopposed.
Austin won re-election to the Board of Supervisors with 70 percent (1,338) of the votes over Republican challenger Crystal Ware (568). Austin, who had run as a Republican three times before this election, parted company with the Botetourt Republican Committee and ran as an Independent. Ware, a member of Buchanan Town Council, got the GOP nomination instead.
Sullivan got just over 74 percent (1,308) of the votes cast in the Buchanan District School Board race. She was challenged by Tom Wilbon (451 votes). Both were required by law to run as Independents.
Putney got 56 percent of the Botetourt vote in his bid for a 25th term in the House. Democrat Lewis Medlin of Bedford County got 22 percent and Constitution Party candidate Will Smith of Botetourt got just over 21 percent of the Botetourt vote. District-wide, Putney, who lives in Forest in Bedford County, got 64 percent of the vote, Medlin just over 20 percent and Smith 15 percent.
Putney carried the parts of Bedford County that are in the 19th District with 69 percent of the vote and he carried Bedford City with 68 percent of the vote.
Cleaveland easily won the 17th District House seat in his first bid for public office. The Botetourt attorney got 62 percent of the vote district-wide in a race with Democrat Gwen Mason of Roanoke for the seat that had been held by Republican William Fralin. Fralin did not seek re-election.
Cleaveland got 73 percent (1,490) of the vote in the three Botetourt voting precincts in the 17th District. He also carried the 12 Roanoke County precincts (66 percent) and 15 Roanoke City voting precincts (55 percent) in the district.
Botetourt voters strongly favored Republicans McDonnell, Bill Bowling in the Lt. Governor’s race and Ken Cuccinelli in the Attorney General’s race. All got over 70 percent of the Botetourt vote.
Statewide, McDonnell bested Democrat Creigh Deeds with nearly 59 percent of the vote; Bowling beat Democrat Jody Wagner with over 56 percent of the vote, and Cuccinelli beat Democrat Stephen Shannon with over 57 percent of the vote.
