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Connie Compton Smith wins in three-way race with 43% of vote to become Rappahannock’s first woman sheriff
By James P. Gannon
Lt. Connie Compton Smith made history Tuesday, winning the three-way race for sheriff of Rappahannock County to become the county’s first woman sheriff.
The 40-year-old Amissville resident tallied 1,280 votes or 42.8% of the total in winning a four-year term as the county’s top law enforcement officer. Maj. Chris Williams, who works alongside Smith in the county sheriff’s office, ran second with 1,022 votes or 34.2%.
Sgt. J.C. Welch of the Culpeper Police Department ran third with 687 votes or 23 percent.
“I am excited and overwhelmed at the amount of votes I received,” Smith said in a telephone interview with The Rappahannock Voice. “I am just overwhelmed at this point.” The victory hadn’t really sunk in yet, she added.
Going in to election day, “I was very nervous,” Smith confessed. “With three people in the race, you never know what is going to happen. I tried to stay confident but I was very nervous.” She said she was surprised at her margin of victory–a comfortable 258-vote margin over Williams. “I thought it would be a lot closer.”
Smith joins a small circle of about a half-dozen women who hold sheriff’s jobs in Virginia. But she dismissed the idea that her gender had been either a plus or a minus in the election. “I don’t think my being a woman had anything to do with it. People voted for me because they knew I could do the job and they trusted me.”
Rappahannock’s first woman sheriff will take office next Jan.1, upon the retirement of incumbent Sheriff Larry Sherertz, who elected not to run again this year.
Smith won four of the county’s six voting precincts–her home precinct of Amissville, plus Washington, Scrabble and Sperryville. Williams won his home precinct of Chester Gap and Flint Hill. Welch failed to carry any precinct, including his home area of Sperryville.
“I am very disappointed,” said J.C. Welch, “but the people have made their choice and I want to congratulate Connie.” Welch said he was “very confident” going into the election. “I thought that I had taken the time to go to nearly every door in the county and express my views….I definitely think I did everything I could have to put on a positive campaign. I want to thank my family and my friends who supported me.”
Asked about his future, Welch responded: “I definitely have to focus my attention now on my job and in working up the ranks at the Culpeper Police Department.”
Chris Williams did not wish to comment on election night, his wife Leslie said when reached at his Chester Gap home.
Turnout was higher than in the 2003 election, the last time the county elected a sheriff. A total of 2,989 votes were cast for sheriff, a turnout of 57.1% of the registered voters of the county. Four years ago, Sherertz won over challenger Steve Butler, in an election with 52.8% of the voters casting ballots.
The 2007 sheriff’s race was probably the most competitive and closely watched election contest in Rappahannock County in many years. Each of the three candidates had deep Rappahannock roots, were well known in the community and had enthusiastic and committed blocs of supporters throughout the county.
All three candidates graduated from Rappahannock County High School–Smith in 1985, Williams in 1987 and Welch in 1994. All three have worked as deputies for the Rappahannock County Sheriff’s Office–Welch for four years before moving to the Culpeper Police Department, Williams and Smith for 19 years each.
Though highly competitive, the campaign that the three candidates conducted was marked by civility and a lack of any visible negative campaigning. The three ran on their records, experience and community ties. As a sign of the generally amicable relationships the candidates maintained with each other, when RappVoice arrived at the Flint Hill fire hall late Tuesday afternoon and found both Smith and Welch there greeting voters, they threw arms around each other when asked for a photo.
-- James P. Gannon
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