Victory was sweet Tuesday night for Del. Chuck Caputo, the Democratic incumbent in the 67th District. Garnering 52.8 percent of the vote against Republican challenger Marc Cadin's 47 percent, Caputo was re-elected to the House by a vote to 7,527 to 6,722.
AFTER THE ELECTION, he and his workers and supporters had a party at his campaign office, and then he joined the state Democratic celebration at the McLean Hilton. Wednesday afternoon, Caputo had a victory luncheon at Eggspectations with members of the Sully Democratic Committee.
Delighted to be re-elected, he attributed his win to "the fact that the citizens of the 67th District appreciate what I've done on their behalf as a delegate to improve the items that figure so highly into our quality of life."
Helping tackle the transportation crisis, Caputo worked with both Democrats and Republicans on the first, major, transportation-funding legislation in two decades. He voted in favor of giving Northern Virginia the authority to raise more than $400 million a year toward solving its traffic woes.
Caputo, of Oak Hill, also pushed to widen Route 50 from Fairfax County into Loudoun County and worked to get the I-66 shoulder lanes open for extended hours.
And on the education front, he worked with the Republican chairman of the Appropriations Committee to pass Virginia's first-ever, Community College Transfer Grant Program. It enables students at colleges such as NOVA to attend the state's four-year colleges at a reduced rate if they keep up their grades.
His biggest challenge during the campaign, said Caputo, was the recognition that he had "a very aggressive opponent who was working hard" to try to defeat him. But Caputo remained confident.
"WE FELT good about our polling and what it showed, as well as our 'ground game' — our field strategy, and its execution," he said. And he believes the large, Republican turnout for the election also worked in his favor.
Said Caputo: "I was able to receive many Republican votes — renewing my confidence that the citizens of the district believe I've done and will continue to do a good job on their behalf, in a bipartison fashion."
His biggest precincts were his home one of Waples Mill, where he racked up 911 votes to Cadin's 768. In the neighboring Navy precinct where Caputo's also well-known, he scored a 548-424 triumph. He said he received a nice, concession call from Cadin, wishing him well and saying he appreciated the campaign [Caputo] ran.
Now, Caputo's anxious to return to Richmond and sit down with his legislative aide to go over legislation he wants drafted in preparation for the January 2008 General Assembly session. He's also pleased with how well his fellow Democrats did in their races statewide.
"We picked up four more seats in the House, so I think we go from eight Democratic seats on committees to 10," he explained. "That means a split of 12 Republicans to 10 Democrats on most committees, so we've improved our posture on them — and all legislation must flow through the committees."