Republican Mark Peake won the 22nd Senate District nomination Saturday in his contest against Goochland County supervisor Ken Peterson. They had competed to represent the seat vacated by State Senator Tom Garrett when he won the 5th Congressional District election in November. Garrett replaces Congressman Robert Hurt after Hurt’s decision not to seek reelection.
Peake, a Lynchburg attorney, has been a long-time volunteer and leader in the Republican Party of Virginia including chairman of the Lynchburg Republican Committee and a member of RPV’s State Central Committee. He had come under an eleventh hour attack from Rick Buchanan, Virginia Tea Party Patriots Federation chairman and vice chair for the Fifth Congressional Republican District. In his email blast, Buchanan was critical, among other things, that Peake is an attorney and, therefore, just “looking for a title.”
Peake will run against the Democratic nominee, former Fluvanna County Sheriff Bryant Washington. That special election, as announced by Governor Terry McAuliffe, will be held on January 10, 2017, one day before the General Assembly’s opening on January 11.
The 22nd Senate District is a notoriously red district and even Blue Virginia realistically noted it would be difficult for a Democrat win.
The 22nd Senate District includes all of Amherst County, Appomattox County, Buckingham County, Cumberland County, Fluvanna County, Goochland County, part of Louisa County, and part of the City of Lynchburg.
LynnRMitchell.com 