Orrock turns back challenge by Kenney in primary.

By EMILY BATTLE and MELISSA NIX

Date published: 6/15/2005

On a hot and lonely day at the polls, Del. Bobby Orrock beat the only Republican primary challenger he's ever faced.

With 55 percent of the vote, he defeated Spotsylvania County Republican Chairman Shaun Kenney in a House of Delegates primary that drew only 7 percent of the 54th District's voters to the polls.

Orrock wasn't elated with the results, admitting to his supporters that he hadn't won by the margin he'd wanted.

Kenney won in seven precincts --all in Spotsylvania--of the 21 precincts in the district, which includes central Spotsylvania and the Woodford area of Caroline County.

He told his crowd of about 30, gathered at the Massaponax Howard Johnson, that the showing was respectable.

"That is not a defeat, guys," he said. "We shocked the world tonight--against incredible odds."

But there was no question that the race reflected the wishes of a very few. Only 3,635 of the 51,516 registered voters in the district cast ballots.

Just how low the turnout would be was evident early in the day. Some poll workers reported opening the doors to find only one or two people waiting to vote on their way to work.

Orrock, a 49-year-old agriculture teacher at Spotsylvania High School, said that when he left the school after giving a morning exam, he was a little nervous knowing that so few people were voting.

"In low turnout elections, a small pocket of people can make a big difference," he said.

Orrock spent the afternoon sweating in the 98-degree sun outside Smith Station Elementary School, the largest precinct in the 54th District. He easily won that precinct.

As campaign staffers called in from registrars' offices in Caroline and Spotsylvania counties, Orrock bent anxiously over a spiral notebook where his friend Dave Rose was recording results until it became clear that there weren't enough votes outstanding for Kenney to pull ahead.

At that point, Orrock's brothers Johnny and Tom each grabbed a leg and hoisted him up, something they've done in every one of their little brother's House of Delegates races when victory becomes evident.

A few minutes later, just after 8:20 p.m., the cell phone rang again. This time it was Kenney, who had gathered with his own supporters at the Massaponax Howard Johnson. He had just learned the election results, and was calling to concede.

Date published: 6/15/2005