We did it! Our campaign has advanced in the National Republican Congressional Committee’s “Young Guns” program, and we have officially put Virginia’s 8th District “On the Radar.” I am honored that the NRCC has placed me in the same category as candidates, such as Pat Herrity in Virginia’s 11th District, running in traditional swing districts. I am the only candidate in Virginia’s 8th District to have achieved this recognition from the national party. To see the complete national list of “On the Radar” candidates, please click here.
This would not have been possible without your help. Thanks to your support, the BERRY’S PATRIOTS donor program was a tremendous success, and we were able to meet the fund-raising benchmark set by the NRCC. I am extremely grateful to each and every one of the hundreds of donors to our campaign who made this happen.
We have put Virginia’s 8th District in play. If I am the Republican nominee, our district will not be an afterthought come this summer and fall as we have been in past election cycles. Rather, we will be in a position to wage an aggressive, competitive, and ultimately successful campaign to unseat Jim Moran.
I know that this will not be easy. That is why we need to nominate a candidate who will be able to send out the mailings, run the media advertisements, and put up the signs necessary to get our message out this fall. And there is only one Republican campaign in the 8th District that has demonstrated the ability to do these things.
It’s still a long road until November but with your continued support, I believe that we will be celebrating a tremendous victory together on Election Day.
I am pleased that the conservative Virginia politics blog Bearing Drift has endorsed my candidacy. In explanation of their decision, they said:
“The bottom-line: only one candidate has demonstrated that he has the passion and fortitude to do what’s right in the face of adversity; only one candidate has been able to clearly articulate a conservative message, yet still have broad-based appeal; only one candidate has completely run a near flawless nomination campaign, demonstrating that he has the capacity and wherewithal to give Jim Moran a run for his money: Matthew Berry.”
To read the full endorsement, please click here.
I am honored that Amit Singh, an 8th District GOP Congressional Candidate in 2008, announced today that he is supporting our campaign and urged all who backed his 2008 campaign to vote for me on June 8th. Amit explained his decision in the following statement:
“After carefully looking over both of the 8th District Republican candidates and their campaigns, I have decided to vote for Matthew Berry in the June 8th primary and to make a donation to his campaign. I firmly believe that Matthew is the strongest candidate that we can put up against Jim Moran in 2010.
“Matthew is an intelligent candidate who has demonstrated he is knowledgeable about the wide range of issues facing the country, and he is the candidate who is offering specific proposals for addressing our nation’s serious problems.
“As a former candidate myself, I appreciate the fact that he is waging a positive issues-oriented campaign rather than resorting to false negative attacks. Moreover, Matthew has demonstrated the capacity to put together the type of campaign that will give Jim Moran the most serious challenge of his career. If Matthew is our nominee, 8th District Republicans can look forward to a well-funded and well-organized general election campaign.
“To be sure, Matthew and I do not agree on every single issue, particularly when it comes to foreign policy, but we do share a mutual commitment to empowering individuals rather than government. I will proudly cast my ballot for him on June 8th and urge all who supported my campaign in 2008 to do the same.”
When we began our campaign in January, I promised that we would wage an aggressive effort to unseat Jim Moran. Today, we are taking a significant step in fulfilling that promise by launching our first radio advertisement. You can listen to our radio spot by clicking here.
In order to win in November, we will need to nominate a candidate who has the organization and resources to bring the fight to Jim Moran. Our campaign is demonstrating that we have the ability to do just that, and I look forward to continuing to escalate our campaign in the weeks and months ahead.
