Scott Rigell (R), an automotive executive who is challenging freshman Rep. Glenn Nye (D) in southeastern Virginia’s 2nd district, was in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to promote his 2010 House campaign.

Party officials in the nation’s capital are fond of Rigell, who’s waging his first caampaign for office in a district in and around Virginia Beach that Nye won last year from two-term Rep. Thelma Drake (R).

“I’m deeply concerned about our country,” Rigell said in an interview with CQ Politics and Roll Call. “I think America is truly at a historic crossroads, where the decisions we make in the next three to five years will determine the direction of this country for the next fifty.”