One of the things that set candidates Emily Brewer and Rebecca Colaw apart from much of the rest of the political machinery that churned during the past six to 12 months is the fact that they both ran clean campaigns.

Perhaps it’s because they have offices right across the street from each other in Suffolk. Perhaps it’s just because the region encourages people to be different. Either way, both Republicans and Democrats can be proud of their respective candidates in this race.

Brewer, the Republican, emerged victorious, garnering a much higher percentage of votes than her opponent, and bucking the trend that emerged of Democrats taking back seats in the legislature.

But we have every confidence that she will represent all of the people of Western Tidewater and the rest of the 64th District well and with distinction, and we hope that people of all political stripes in the city return the favor by giving her a chance to do the work she has pledged to do in Richmond.

We’re proud of both candidates for running campaigns that were above the fray. And we’re excited to know that Western Tidewater will have such fine representation in Richmond.