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Democratic Poll: Virginia Republican Trails in Suburban Swing District

LuAnn Bennett leads GOP Rep. Barbara Comstock for first time

Democrat LuAnn Bennett, left, leads Republican Rep. Barbara Comstock in the Democrat’s latest internal poll of Virginia's 10th District. (Al Drago/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Democrat LuAnn Bennett, left, leads Republican Rep. Barbara Comstock in the Democrat’s latest internal poll of Virginia's 10th District. (Al Drago/CQ Roll Call file photo)

A Democratic poll of Virginia’s 10th District finds Democrat LuAnn Bennett leading Republican Rep. Barbara Comstock for the first time. 

Bennett led Comstock 46 to 42 percent among likely voters in the poll conducted by Expedition Strategies on behalf of the Bennett campaign. Eleven percent were undecided.

The poll was conducted Oct. 10-12 — after revelations of Donald Trump’s comments about groping and kissing women in a 2005 video. 

In the campaign’s September poll, Comstock led Bennett 45 to 41 percent, with 12 percent undecided. In May, Bennett was down 11 points.

[Suburban Brawl: The Fight Over Independents and Moderate Republicans

Comstock was among the first GOP lawmakers to call on Trump to step aside as the party’s presidential nominee last week. She condemned some of Trump’s remarks in the past, but had refused to take a position on backing him until that point. Her suburban district leans Republican, but it’s been a swing district at the presidential level.

The Rothenberg & Gonzales Political Report/Roll Call changed its rating of the 10th District race Friday from Leans Republican to Tilts Republican

House Majority PAC, which works to elect Democrats to the House, is on the air with an ad attacking Comstock for voting to defund Planned Parenthood and wanting to overturn Roe v. Wade. “Barbara Comstock: too right wing for northern Virginia,” the narrator says.

The Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC supporting House Republican candidates, announced Friday an additional $1.2 million for cable, broadcast and digital advertising in the district, bringing the GOP super PAC’s total spending there to $2.7 million. The group is attacking Bennett for wanting to raise taxes, saying, she “will be happy to take your money.”

Comstock raised $1.1 million during the three-month quarter that ended on Sept. 30 and has $1.9 million cash on hand. Bennett raised $693,000 and has $90,000 in the bank.

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