Independent Gibson Ends Bid to Challenge Connolly for Congress

Mark Gibson, who hoped to challenge incumbent Gerry Connolly (D) in Virginia’s 11th Congressional District, has fallen short in his attempt to get on November’s general election ballot.

Gibson announced he fell 43 signatures short of the required 1,000 needed from qualified voters. He said hesubmitted 1,259 signatures, but only 957 were verified as qualified 11th District voters by Virginia’s State Board of Elections.

“We had a small dedicated group of community volunteers collecting ballot petition signatures, but it just wasn’t enough,” Gibson said in a statement. “And the demands of my day job this year meant that I couldn’t devote the time necessary to make this bid a success.”

Gibson, 53, is a U.S. Government contractor and the chief operating officer for a Fairfax-based small business. He was on the ballot in 2012 and finished third in a field of six as Connolly won re-election. He has never held public office.

Gibson’s office says that of the 302 disqualified signatures, about half were from outside the District —  primarily from areas that were formerly in the District prior to the 2012 Congressional redistricting. Other voters were disqualified because the general registrars in the counties of Fairfax and Prince William as well as the City of Fairfax could not identify a signature as a registered voter from the 11th District.

Connolly’s remaining opponents will be Republican Suzanne Scholte, Green Party candidate Joe Galdo and Libertarian Marc Harrold.