The “conventional wisdom” would have one believe that a pro-life candidate should be quiet about a pro-life position or risk losing the election. That’s because the “conventional wisdom” comes from media that are overwhelmingly pro-abortion. However, this “conventional wisdom” is usually wrong.

For many years, exit polls conducted after elections have shown that those who really care about the abortion issue vote pro-life by a significant margin. On August 6, we had an example that clearly illustrates this phenomenon.

Virginia State Senator Warren Barry resigned his seat to take an appointment by Governor Mark Warner. This resulted in a special election to fill the vacancy. Since Republicans currently control the State Senate by only a very small margin, this race was important to both political parties. Governor Mark Warner and other significant Democrats campaigned on behalf of the Democratic candidate.

On the Republican side, attorney Ken Cuccinelli became a candidate for the seat. While his campaign dealt with a range of issues of interest to Northern Virginia voters, he emphasized his pro-life, pro-family positions, both in the Republican primary and in the general election against the Democratic opponent (who supported a pro-abortion position). He did not equivocate his belief that “human life begins at conception, and that human beings should be respected and protected from conception to natural death.” With his solid pro-life position, he was endorsed by the VSHL PAC.

The result? Mr. Cuccinelli won the primary with 53% of the 1,784 votes cast, and went on to win the general election with an even larger margin of 55% out of 18,252 votes cast. He was sworn in as the new 37th District State Senator on August 19, 2002.

Is pro-life a winning issue? You bet. Just ask Ken Cuccinelli.

Pro-Life Winner Ken Cuccinelli

Published in VSHL Lifesaver, October, 2002