The two candidates to replace retiring Rep. Frank R. Wolf in Virginia’s 10th District are readying their closing pitch to voters in one of the most expensive House races in the country.
Republican Barbara Comstock and Democrat John Foust have been locked in a tight race in which much of the recent attention has been on explosive charges leveled by the candidates and their allies.
Republicans have almost singularly directed their fire at Mr. Foust’s comments over the summer that he wasn’t sure whether Ms. Comstock, an attorney and former Justice Department official, ever had a real job. Republicans have called the remarks sexist and offensive to working mothers.
In an interview, Ms. Comstock said she’s had many people approach her and cite the remarks, and said her experience as a delegate in the state legislature pushing bipartisan measures on items to promote teleworking and technology, and to combat human trafficking would allow her to hit the ground running if elected.
“This district needs somebody who will be in the majority,” said Ms. Comstock. “I have a record of bipartisan success and results, working on the kitchen table issues — jobs, technology jobs, energy jobs, working with our defense industry stopping the sequester cuts and working on federal employees’ issues, and I’ll be able to hit the ground running on day one protecting all of our interests in the 10th District the way Congressman Wolf has been.”
Ms. Comstock also worked as an opposition researcher for national Republicans and served as counsel for a House oversight panel that launched a number of inquiries into former President Bill Clinton.
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Mr. Foust said in a recent interview with News Channel 8 his comments were taken out of context and acknowledged Ms. Comstock’s positions are real jobs.
“The problem is, those jobs were so hyperpartisan — and that was the point I was making at the time — that they do not contribute to solving the problems that we have in Washington today,” said Mr. Foust, a Fairfax County supervisor.
Democrats, meanwhile, have pointed to a recent Politico article detailing how Ms. Comstock pushed several union-related bills as a delegate at the same time her firm was being paid by a conservative business group, the Workforce Fairness Institute, that was advocating similar issues as part of its agenda.
She initially failed to disclose that WFI was a client of one of her firms, Comstock Strategies, when she filed papers to run for the seat, something her campaign chalked up as an oversight to The Washington Post.
Ms. Comstock’s campaign said she was identified in public settings as a spokeswoman for the group and that her advocating for right-to-work policies should come as no surprise.
“Barbara Comstock disclosed her federal clients under Virginia law as required,” said campaign manager Susan Falconer. “It is no secret that Barbara Comstock has worked in a public and open fashion — on TV, radio, and in print — advocating right to work policies.”
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Mr. Foust raised just more than $1 million in the third quarter, including a $150,000 loan he gave to the campaign, leaving him with about $640,000 for the stretch run. Ms. Comstock, meanwhile, raised $1.2 million and had about $800,000 at the end of September.
The race, owing to its proximity to Washington and comparatively expensive ad time, also appears as if it’s serving as almost a chess piece of sorts as Democratic and Republican groups decide how to best marshal their resources.
The campaign arm of House Democrats recently announced it was pulling back about $3 million of ad reservations and redirecting much of the money to shore up an incumbent in California, a reflection of the “triaging” and difficult decisions both sides are faced with in a year with relatively few competitive races.
In response, the National Republican Congressional Committee announced that it, too, would be pulling resources out, saying that Mrs. Comstock is in sufficiently good position to win.
While certainly not great news for Mr. Foust, campaign committees routinely shift money around in the final weeks of campaigns.
“Despite Republican attempts to declare victory, both committees are still buying cable for the last two weeks, and spending on each side is relatively even,” Foust campaign manager Shaun Daniels wrote in a recent memo.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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