Let’s hear it for the losers!

“I Voted” stickers spread out on a table at a polling place in Richmond. (Ned Oliver/Virginia Mercury)

In Wise County earlier this month I met the candidate daring enough, or foolish enough, to run against the most powerful Republican member of Virginia’s House of Delegates. 

When I walked into the community center in Norton, where I was to give a presentation at the invitation of the Clinch River Coalition, I found a volunteer wrangling wires to plug in the audio equipment. He was introduced to me as Josh Outsey, the man who had taken on the thankless job of Democratic challenger to Del. Terry Kilgore, R-Scott, in this fall’s election. 

Before I could stop myself, I laughed. Terry Kilgore has been in the House for 31 years, and ran unopposed in the last three elections. A politically powerful member of a politically powerful family, Kilgore represents a district that’s over 92% White and voted 83.1% for Donald J. Trump. The 63-year-old lawyer was recently elected House Republican leader.

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Joshua Outsey (pronounced OOT-see), 38, is a Black actor, singer and community organizer. As of June 5, Kilgore had raised $469,509, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. Outsey had raised $200. 

Outsey gives a respectable pitch for his candidacy, grounded in both experience and policy. If this were a contest for a seat in a more balanced district, I’d have no business being amused. But no one, least of all Outsey, is under any illusions that he can unseat Kilgore. 

Still, I am filled with admiration. It is one thing to say that democracy works best when voters have choices, and quite another to agree to make yourself that choice against impossible odds. 

I’ve seen up close what even a hopeless campaign can require. A couple or three decades ago, my friend Tom Horton ran for Congress against a well-funded Republican incumbent who was firmly entrenched in Virginia politics. Tom had no trouble securing the Democratic nomination – nobody else wanted it – but he didn’t have money for a staff, and he needed a policy director. I was at home with young children and glad for the mental stimulation, so I signed on. 

Unburdened by any real prospect of success, I had a great time writing position papers based largely on my own opinions. Every once in a while, I would stop and ask myself, “I wonder what Tom thinks about this?” then shrug and plunge on. Very occasionally, Tom would balk at a position I proposed he take, and then we would talk it out.

But mostly, he didn’t have time for that. Poor Tom spent every day of the campaign on the phone trying to raise money. In the evenings he knocked on doors. If he was lucky, sometimes he was interviewed on the radio or got a quote in the paper. It was an uphill slog all the way, and none of it mattered. He lost by about the same wide margin that polls had shown him losing by at the outset of the campaign. 

He had to be disappointed, but Tom told me he loved every minute of it and would run again in a heartbeat, if he didn’t have a family to support.

Maybe this is why I have a special place in my heart for underdogs. People like Tom who try, knowing they are likely to fail, and then indeed do fail, only to pick themselves up and say it was worth it anyway – they are heroes to me. Winners are dull by comparison. 

Outsey is far from being the only sacrificial lamb this election. Democrats are fielding candidates in every House race this fall, including other long-shot seats like those held by Will Morefield, another coalfields delegate who won in 2023 with 85% of the vote, and Minority Leader Todd Gilbert, who won his Shenandoah Valley district by more than 77%.

Republicans are not similarly contesting every seat, but some are taking on Democratic incumbents even in deep blue districts, including a few who are making a repeat appearance on the ballot.

These include retired technology professional Kristin Hoffman, who is challenging McLean Democratic Del. Rip Sullivan for the second time, in spite of losing by 23 points in the last election. A few miles to the east, in another Fairfax County district that voted overwhelmingly for Harris over Trump last fall, retired federal worker Ed McGovern will face Del. Kathy Tran for a third time. He lost by 20 points in 2021 and 30 points in 2023.  

I was unsuccessful in trying to reach these folks, so I don’t know their motivations. Regardless, I salute them.

Running against impossible odds can serve a purpose beyond dedication to the democratic process. Democrat Melody Cartwright told a Cardinal News reporter that she sees running for a second time against Del. Eric Phillips, R-Henry, after losing in 2023 by 40 points, as a way to support Abigail Spanberger’s gubernatorial campaign. She added candidly that forcing Republicans to spend money to defend Phillips’ seat would leave them less money to attack Democrats elsewhere.

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Running for office with no expectation of winning can also be a tactic for raising awareness of a neglected cause, as many a Green Party candidate can attest. My colleague at the Mercury, Roger Chesley, recalls a candidate by the name of Gail Parker who ran for various local, state and federal offices seven times between 2006 and 2019. Calling herself “Gail for Rail,” she campaigned on the single issue of promoting light rail. A 2007 Washington Post headline snarkily called her a “One-Track Candidate.” Fair enough, but the record will reflect that Metro now extends out to Loudoun County. 

Deep in the heart of every candidate, of course, is the hope that lightning may strike. The opponent might stumble badly enough, or voters suddenly realize that who they wanted all along was someone just like the scrappy upstart, leading to an upset victory. 

It has happened. In a 2014 primary, libertarian college professor David Brat defeated Congressman Eric Cantor, the House Majority Leader at the time, in an upset that shocked the political establishment and gave hope to long-shot candidates everywhere. Brat won the general election, too, and served two terms.

Brat’s win over Cantor, followed by his loss to a Democrat in 2018 – to Abigail Spanberger, as it happened – demonstrates a final point: the political winds can shift suddenly, and when it happens, the people who benefit are the ones who’ve got their sails ready. 

Democrats have been able to field so many candidates this year because they sense such a shift coming as part of a backlash to the Trump presidency. Republicans say otherwise. Still, no matter which party wins control this fall, the outcome won’t help the longest of long-shot candidates. 

But that’s okay. Just running is a win for democracy.

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