A Westmoreland County doctor plans to challenge Rep. Rob Wittman for the 1st District congressional seat.
Dr. Keith Hummel, an emergency-room physician, hopes to win the Democratic nomination to run against Republican Wittman for the seat in November’s election. No others have filed as candidates.
Wittman won the seat just last December in a special election, held after Rep. Jo Ann Davis died of breast cancer. The 1st District extends from Fauquier County to York County.
Hummel, 57, who also runs a vineyard and winery, has never run for political office. He said he’s running now because his own populist viewpoint isn’t being represented.
“I’m running because I have a concern that we are losing our representative form of government. It is my perception that a lot of people in Congress, their ear is held by the lobbyists,” Hummel said. “We need someone who is not a professional politician for the 1st Congressional District, who will listen to the people, who will put the interests of the people and the nation ahead of the interests of the lobbyists.”
Hummel thinks this is the year for a self-described populist to do well because the presidential election campaign has galvanized many people who have felt disenfranchised, and Hummel says they’re the kind of people to whom his populism appeals.