Democratic Challenger Drops Out Of Race

Democrat Keith Hummel is abandoning his challenge of U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman (R) in Virginia's 1st Congressional District, which includes part of Prince William County.

Today, Hummel announced that he was suspending his campaign, citing past financial difficulties and lamenting "the politics of personal attack and destruction."

"Unfortunately, our elections today revolve around narrow and simplistic assessments of viability,'' he said in a statement. "Under such circumstances, it is little wonder that the politics of personal attack and destruction turn the mistakes of the past into harbingers of the future with little understanding that the brutal lessons learned through our life's struggles are valuable ingredients for successful leaders."

Hummell filed debt reorganization petitions 1997 and 2003 and a Chapter 7 petition for liquidation in 1992 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. The cases are all closed.

He entered politics in February to run against Wittman, a former state legislator who won a special election in December 2007. Wittman is serving the final year of Jo Ann Davis's term. She died of breast cancer in October.