Another contender joins GOP race for 5th District

The crowded race for the Republican nomination to challenge U.S. Rep. Tom Per-riello, D-Ivy, just got even more crowded.

Contractor Scott P. Schultz said Monday that he's throwing his hat into the ring, bringing the field to eight candidates.

"I've been thinking about it ever since Tom Perriello won back in 2008," he said.

He'd been holding off on declaring his candidacy to see if Virgil H. Goode Jr. would run to reclaim his 5th District seat, he said.

Schultz, 41, said there are several candidates in the race that he agrees with broadly. But it's his blue-collar status that will set him apart in this year's primary, he said.

"I feel like we need more people that are on our level to show that the Republican Party is . about the working people," he said.

Schultz is a contractor, but he also does a variety of metalworking, including blacksmithing. He's an Army veteran with a bachelor's degree in business admini-stration, he said.

As far as policy goes, he said his biggest overall goal is to spread term limits.

"I think in the long-term we need to look at term limits," he said. "That's for the long-term, and I think it would make a fundamental change in how politics works in the United States."

He has two children in Albemarle County's public schools: a son, 17, and a daugh-ter, 16.

In his spare time, he participates in the Society for Creative Anachronism. The group is dedicated to teaching and recreating feudal history, he said.

Schultz said that, even with eight candidates, he's not worried about the field get-ting too crowded.

"I think it's going to be a good thing as long as we don't split the vote and allow a non-conservative to win the nomination," he said. "And when we get closer to the end, we're going to have some tough decisions among ourselves as candidates."

He added, "It's more important that we win in November."

The GOP will select its candidate at a primary June 8.

The other hopefuls are Kenneth C. Boyd, a member of the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors; Ron Ferrin, a Campbell County resident who owns an Internet com-pany; state Sen. Robert Hurt, R-Chatham; Jim McKelvey, a Franklin County real estate developer; Feda Kidd Morton, a Fluvanna teacher; Michael McPadden, a North Garden resident and airline pilot; and Ivy resident Laurence Verga, a real-estate investor.