[3] The candidates held a spirited and well-attended[4] debate on October 22 in which differing opinions on health care and the economy played a central role.

On Medicare, Wittman advocated restructuring the system, while Day argued for expanding it and Larson shocked the audience by calling for its abolition.

[8] A Westmoreland County resident, former State Board of Health field director for the Division of Shellfish Sanitation and past member of the Virginia House of Delegates,[9] he has only held the seat since January 2008, having won the special election to succeed deceased Congresswoman Jo Ann Davis.

He has taken up many of her causes, including the FairTax, veterans' interests and getting rid of the remainder of the ghost fleet stationed at the James River.

[10][11][12] Like Davis, he is also introducing legislation to allow Virginia to regulate the importation of trash from other states.

[14] He previously ran for Virginia Delegate representing the 31st District, losing to Scott Lingamfelter[15] by a close margin of 45% to 55%.

[18] A Westmoreland County physician and self-described "populist Democrat", Hummel also operates a farm and winery.

The issues he was running on included enacting trade and tax policies to protect American jobs and American interests (rather than those of a few multinational corporations); using the military for defense rather than offensively; providing better health care and other benefits to veterans; and universal health care.

[19] Anarcho-capitalist Catlett resident Nathan Larson filed a declaration of candidacy on May 7, and was certified for the ballot on June 6.

[22] The main issues he was running on are free market roads and transit privatization,[23] which he proposed as the solution to DC Metropolitan area traffic congestion, recently ranked the second-worst in the country.

[25] Larson also sought to dissolve the U.S. military and establish a competitive market for defense services.

[26] Prior to his campaign, Larson was a student senator and cannabis reform activist at George Mason University.

Republican incumbent Thelma Drake lost to Democratic nominee Glenn Nye, a graduate of the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., who served as a diplomat in Eastern Europe, Kosovo and Macedonia, Singapore, Afghanistan, the West Bank, Gaza and Iraq.

[30] In 2004, Drake received 55% of the vote in this Virginia Beach-based district, which was won by George W. Bush with 57% to 42% for John Kerry in 2004.

Senator George Allen, who narrowly lost to Democrat Jim Webb, an ex-Republican and former Navy Secretary under Ronald Reagan.

Republican incumbent Randy Forbes won against Democratic nominee Andrea Miller (campaign website).

[31] Virgil Goode Republican Tom Perriello Democratic The District lies in southern and central Virginia.

[40] The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee considered Goode a "targeted Republican",[36] based partly on Perriello's early fundraising.

[31] Goode originally won his seat as a Democrat in 1996, voted for President Clinton's impeachment in 1998, became an Independent in 2000, and then joined the Republican Party in 2002.

Concerning the Iraq War, Hartke supports a gradual withdrawal of troops, stating that a brigade should be brought home every month.

She supports reform of the controversial No Child Left Behind Act and increasing funding to the public school system.

Democratic incumbent Jim Moran won against Republican nominee Mark Ellmore and Independent Green J. Ron Fisher.

Republican incumbent Frank Wolf won against Democratic nominee Judy Feder and Independent Neeraj Nigam[46] in the general election in November 2008.

Democratic nominee Gerry Connolly, Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, won against Republican nominee Keith Fimian, a former CPA, and Independent Green candidate Joseph Oddo in this open seat race.

In 1994 Davis toppled one-term Democrat Leslie L. Byrne and rarely faced serious opposition in intervening years.

George W. Bush barely won this district with 50% to 49% for John Kerry, which includes part of Fairfax and Prince William counties, in 2004.

Connolly won the June 10, 2008 primary with 58% of the vote, against Leslie L. Byrne (33%), Doug Denneny (6%), and Lori P. Alexander (3%).