"George D. Shropshire III, a Campbell County trucker who campaigned 'ferociously' for Gov. Mark R. Warner, said Wednesday that he is challenging 5th District Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr. for Congress.

'I think it would be a great asset to the people of the 5th District to have somebody who's got a working person's perspective,' Shropshire said.

'I've never held public office before. I am a working person,' he said. 'I've driven a truck for the last 30 years. I joined the Teamsters in 1990, and I've become more politically active ever since.'

Shropshire, 50, was elected to the executive board as a trustee for Local 171 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in Roanoke.

He said he is seeking the Democratic Party nomination to oppose Goode, a former Democrat who two years ago became an independent caucusing with Republicans. Goode, 55, announced this year that he is seeking renomination as a Republican.

'I don't want to be a politician,' Shropshire said. 'I want to be a representative and help people with their problems.'

Shropshire said Democrats have encouraged him to run, and his campaign treasurer is Carter Elliott, chairman of the Campbell County Democratic Committee. Democrats will choose a nominee for the Nov. 5 election at a May 18 convention.

His top issues are working to stop 'the pillaging of Social Security,' to support fully funding education and to create jobs in the 5th District, Shropshire said.

Del. Mitchell Van Yahres, D-Charlottesville, welcomed Shropshire to the race Wednesday.

'I'm glad,' Van Yahres said. 'He sounds like a good guy, and I think Virgil needs opposition. Virgil does not represent a large segment of the 5th District, and I'm sure Shropshire does. He's a labor man. That could play well.'

Shropshire said he and his wife, Nancy, campaigned hard for Warner for governor last year.

'I campaigned ferociously for Mark Warner,' he said. 'I think that's when I really set myself on fire [politically.] It was nice to see a Democrat win for a change.'

'We did canvassing. My wife and I both manned the phone bank,' Shropshire said. 'It was a very rewarding and enjoyable thing for us to do.'

Ellen Qualls, Warner's press secretary~ said of Shropshire's candidacy that 'it has been one of Mark Warner's goals to bring new people into the process.'

The 5th District includes Charlottesville plus Albemarle, Fluvanna, Buckingham, Nelson and Greene counties. It stretches south to Danville and the North Carolina line.

Goode, a 1973 University of Virginia law school graduate, is serving his third term in Congress after 23 years in the Virginia Senate from Franklin County, where his late father served as a longtime commonwealth's attorney and member of the House of Delegates.

Washington political analyst Charles E. Cook Jr. rates Goode as 'tough to beat' and in a safe district. 'Goode's biggest threat in this conservative, Republican-leaning district, comes ... from disgruntled members of his former party, angry at his decision to switch from Democrat,' Cook wrote in 'The Almanac of American Politics, 2002.'" (Bob Gibson, The Daily Progress, April 4, 2002)