Former television anchor and Democrat Chris Hurst, whose girlfriend Alison Parker was killed on live television in 2015, won the race for the 12th District of Virginia’s House of Delegates Tuesday night.
Hurst received 54.3% of the vote, according to the Virginia Department of Elections.
In explaining his victory Wednesday morning on CNN’s “New Day,” Hurst said his campaign “went everywhere” to seek out voters.
“We employed a strategy where we went where normally people in my party don’t go,” he said.
Parker was a reporter for Roanoke, Virginia, TV station WDBJ when she and photographer Adam Ward were fatally shot during a live television broadcast. Hurst, however, told CNN that his campaign was not particularly focused on gun violence.
“This race has been more about education and more about expanding Medicaid, and with the Democratic wave at the top of the ticket down to the assembly level, we can finally do that in Virginia,” he said.
But he said addressing gun violence would be a priority for the state’s Democrats following gains in the statehouse Tuesday night.
“Every single idea that could possibly address and reduce the number of people dying from gun homicide, suicide and accidental fire deaths, I think, is finally on the table,” he said.
The 12th District for the House of Delegates is one of several races across the country held Tuesday, including the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial contests.