"Vega's very aggressive effort at courting very conservative voices in Virginia and nationally really paid off here," said Stephen Farnsworth, director of the Center for Leadership and Media Studies at the University of Mary Washington. "In a race where a lot of the candidates on the ballot are going to be relatively unknown to a lot of the voters, Vega's decision to come in with a lot of high-profile conservative endorsements helped push her across the finish line." Candidates are Set for Fall Election (Connection Newspapers)