Dr. Steve Pleickhardt, a dentist residing and practicing in Manassas, will be the GOP's candidate to take on incumbent Lee Carter (D-50, Bristow, Manassas) -- Virginia's first self-avowed socialist -- in November.
Pleickhardt won a firehouse primary on Saturday, May 1, running against Mike Allers Jr., a Loudoun County school teacher who also lives in Manassas. The primary, which was held at Metz Middle School in Manassas, saw Pleickhardt take the win in the overall election with 266 votes to Allers' 169 votes.
Allers had taken the majority of votes from Manassas City with 124 to Pleickhardt's 116. But it was in Prince William County itself where Pleickhardt picked up the lion's share of support receiving 150 votes to Allers' 45.
In a video on the Committee's Facebook page, Allers conceded and congratulated Pleickhardt for his victory in the primary. Allers caused some consternation in the local GOP in the week leading up to the Primary Election by sending out a flyer that insinuated that Pleickhardt had "foreign ties" which could make him vulnerable to outside influence as well as mentioning the doctor's personal financial woes from back in 2017.
Allers' concession also included a pledge to support Pleickhardt in his campaign against Carter.
Pleickhardt's opponent for the seat of the 50th District in the House of Delegates with bt incumbent Lee Carter who will be running for his third consecutive term in office. Carter has found himself at odds not only with Republicans but also with police as last May Carter was teargassed during a protest near Manassas. Carter confronted police, refusing to leave the protest area, following a riot that saw several businesses damaged, four police officers injured, and five people arrested. The charges on all five individuals were later dropped.
"The big issue is we have to defeat Socialism, we have to defeat Lee Carter, and even if it's not Lee Carter, his policies. So that's what's going to be important in the fall," said Milke Allers Jr. in his concession video.
Pleickhardt and Carter will face off in the General Election on Tuesday, November 2 to see who will represent the 50th District in the Virginia House of Delegates.
In addition to running to keep his seat in the House of Delegates, Carter has also mounted a campaign for Virginia Governor. Democrats will have their say in a statewide Primary Election on Tuesday, June 8, as to who their candidate will be.
So far, former Virginia Terry McAuliffe, who's making his second bid to be state governor, is leading the race, topping Jennifer Carroll Foy, who represented residents in Virginia's 2nd House District (North Stafford, Woodbridge) until she stepped down from the office in December to concentrate on her gubenatorial campaign.
