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Three more join 1st District race

November 3, 2007 12:35 am

A Stafford County Democrat has joined the race for the congressional 1st District seat.

Ted Hontz, a retired Navy captain and a businessman and community activist in the Fredericksburg area, announced his candidacy yesterday.

That makes him the second Democrat to enter the race to fill the term of Jo Ann Davis, who died of breast cancer last month. Phil Forgit of Williamsburg entered the race earlier this week.

Two more Republicans also are seeking the nomination. They are Williamsburg attorney Kevin O'Neill and Mathews County resident Rob Quartel.

Hontz is currently vice president in charge of Navy operations at Basic Commerce and Industries in Dahlgren. He spent 28 years in the Navy, is a veteran of Vietnam and the Persian Gulf, and received Legion of Merit and Bronze Star for valor awards.

He is also vice chairman of the Stafford County Economic Development Authority, serves on the board of directors of the Fredericksburg Regional Chamber of Commerce and helped found the Chamber's Military Affairs Council.

Hontz's release said he helped lobby against a 10 percent cut at the Dahlgren base during the 2005 BRAC process, and also helped get support for the University of Mary Washington's graduate school at Dahlgren.

In an interview, Hontz said he thinks Iraq is the biggest issue right now.

"From the first day that I step into the Capitol I'm going to fight to redeploy America's men and women out of harm's waychange their role, change their mission [so] we're no longer having our men and women in a situation of daily combat with no end in sight," he said.

Hontz said congested traffic near the nation's capital and in the Hampton Roads area is a national security issue. He described himself as a fiscal conservative, a proponent of individual rights and affordable health care, and a conservation advocate.

Hontz said that he's not concerned that the district has voted for a Republican for many years. The district's military families, he said, care more about a congressman who is "ready to forcefully take the issues to Capitol Hill and try to solve the nation's problems."

So far Hontz and Forgit are the only two Democrats running. Forgit is also a military veteran, having been deployed to Iraq. Democrats in the 1st District will chose their nominee in a convention in Williamsburg Nov. 10.

The two Republicans announced bring the list of candidates from that party to 11.

O'Neill commutes to work at a Washington, D.C. law firm, where he is a partner and works with public policy issues. In a news release, O'Neill said that has given him experience with government that would let him hit the ground running.

He also said he would put "practical solutions ahead of ideology," and that he advocates tax reform and repeal of the estate tax.

"If Congress wants credibility with the American people, we must demonstrate to them that Washington can live within its means, just like our own families do," O'Neill wrote.

He said he has experience working on problems like transportation infrastructure, immigration reform, national security and health care.

Quartel is CEO of FreightDesk Technologies and a former member of the U.S. Maritime Commission. Quartel has unsuccessfully run for Congress twice in the past in Florida, according to the Daily Press.

O'Neill and Quartel join a long list of candidates for the Republican nomination.

While three Republican House of Delegates members--Dels. Tom Gear, Jeff Frederick and Scott Lingamfelter--had been rumored to be considering running for the seat, all three this week endorsed Jost.

Republicans will choose their nominee in a convention at Caroline High School on Nov. 10.

The special election to fill the seat is Dec. 11.