Democrat concedes in competitive Virginia race

Democrat Cameron Webb has conceded in the race to fill an open House seat in Virginia, putting Republican Bob Good on track to declare victory after unseating incumbent Rep. Denver Riggleman in the GOP primary earlier this year.

Webb was one of the party’s top recruits this election cycle.

While House Democrats had sought to make further inroads in the suburbs beyond their 2018 gains, Webb — who would have been the first Black doctor to be a voting member of Congress — ultimately fell short in a district that’s repeatedly gone for the GOP in recent years.

The district, which spans from Fauquier County in Northern Virginia all the way to the North Carolina border, has been represented by a Republican since 2011.

President Trump carried the district four years ago by 11 points.

Good ousted Riggleman, who was first elected to the seat in 2018, in the GOP primary earlier this year in part over conservative backlash over officiating a same-sex marriage.

Webb is currently a practicing physician and serves as the director of Health Policy and Equity at the University of Virginia’s School of Medicine.

Webb previously worked on health care policy in both the Obama and Trump administrations on enrollment in the Affordable Care Act insurance exchanges as well as drug pricing and opioid addiction.

Good, a former Liberty University athletics director, identified himself as a “bright red Biblical and constitutional conservative” who will “emphasize our Judeo-Christian principles upon which our nation was founded.”

During one debate, Good downplayed the effectiveness of masks, which public health experts say help reduce the spread of COVID-19.

“I had one doctor tell me that wearing a mask is like putting up a chain link fence to keep out mosquitoes,” Good said, according to a NBC affiliate.

Webb, meanwhile, was personally treating COVID-19 patients during the pandemic.

“I really do think the [Trump] administration as a whole could do better to lean into the science, lean into the scientists who could lead this effort,” Webb said during the debate.