U.S. House of Representatives
Elections 2010 On October 7, 2009, Hurt officially declared himself a candidate for . The district stretches from
Charlottesville to
Southside Virginia and west to
Bedford and
Franklin counties. Hurt was the Republican establishment candidate in the primary and was not received well by the
Tea Party. On June 8, 2010, Hurt won the Republican nomination with a plurality in a crowded field of six other candidates. A local Tea Party Leader said his group would "unite behind" and "support" Hurt. Hurt campaigned against Democratic incumbent
Tom Perriello and Independent candidate Jeffrey Clark in the general election. Republicans viewed his as a pickup opportunity and poured resources into the race. Perriello was listed as one of the 10 most vulnerable House incumbents by
Roll Call. Hurt was a member of the
National Republican Congressional Committee's "Young Guns" program. On June 12, Hurt stated that he would "absolutely" participate in debates that included all the candidates, including Independent candidate Clark. Just days later, Hurt stated that he would not debate Clark. Although the statement was made in response to a direct query from a reporter as to whether he would debate Clark, Hurt's campaign later tried to justify their position by insisting this was untrue. Hurt skipped the first debate which was organized by the Senior Statesmen of Virginia, becoming the first candidate to skip the forum since it started in 1996. In addition to the first debate, Hurt skipped two subsequent debates one sponsored by the
Chamber of Commerce in
Nelson County and another hosted by
American Legion Post 325 in Danville making a total of three skipped debates. Hurt campaigned on his opposition to the Democratic-backed initiatives that Perriello supported, such as
health-care reform, the
economic stimulus package and
clean energy legislation. On August 20, Hurt released his first television ad. The ad stated that he would fight tax increases, stop Washington's spending and start creating jobs, however he never mentioned his opponents. "You definitely see that he's running against Congress as a whole and Democrats as a whole," Isaac Wood, an analyst at the
University of Virginia Center for Politics, said. "That was very clear. He spent just a few seconds introducing himself, then pivoted right away to attack the negative things happening in D.C. With voters, that can be effective." Another ad from Hurt called Perriello a "rubber stamp" for the policies of President
Barack Obama and House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi. Hurt won with 51 percent of the vote. He became the first freshman Republican to represent this district since Reconstruction.
Virgil Goode, who represented the district from 1997 to 2009, was originally elected as a Democrat, and only joined the GOP in 2002 after serving as an independent from 2000 to 2002.
2012 Hurt was challenged by Democratic nominee
John Douglass, a retired United States Air Force Brigadier General and former Assistant Secretary of the Navy. Hurt won re-election to a second term on November 6, 2012.
2014 Hurt was re-elected to a third term in 2014, defeating Democratic nominee Lawrence Gaughan 61% to 36%.
Tenure After his win, Hurt submitted a formal letter of resignation from the
Virginia General Assembly to Governor
Bob McDonnell that would be effective on January 5, the day Hurt was sworn into Congress. Hurt voted to repeal the
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act which successfully passed the House. In February, Hurt criticized President
Barack Obama's $3.73 trillion 2012 federal budget proposal for its excessive spending and borrowing. Hurt would vote to pass a $1.2 trillion bill that would cut the year's budget federal budget by $61 billion. On April 8, Hurt voted for a continuing resolution that prevented the government from shutting down that day. Hurt expressed support for
Paul Ryan's
budget plan that month as well. On July 19, Hurt voted for the
Cut, Cap and Balance Act. On August 1, Hurt voted for the
Budget Control Act of 2011 that raised the debt ceiling and cut spending by $2.1 trillion over the next 10 years. Hurt co-sponsored a bill that would prevent the
Environmental Protection Agency from cracking down on farm dust. The bill passed the House on December 8. In 2010, when Hurt was running against incumbent Tom Perriello, the
Sierra Club and
League of Conservation Voters released television and radio ads against Hurt, attacking him on an alleged conflict of interest regarding uranium mining, because his father was a founding investor in Virginia Uranium and Hurt had accepted money from uranium mining interests. Hurt strongly opposed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's 2009 proposed "Cap-and Trade" climate control legislation. Hurt opposed the Affordable Care Act, saying "The President's health care law represents a fundamental departure from the founding principles of our nation by placing more faith in government than in the American people and by inserting the federal government in between patients and their doctors."
Committee assignments •
Committee on Financial Services •
Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government-Sponsored Enterprises •
Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing and Community Opportunity (Vice Chair)
Retirement Hurt did not seek re-election to the U.S. House in 2016. He was succeeded by fellow Republican
Tom Garrett. ==Electoral history==