•   News  
• Business
• Entertainment
• Pics
• Blogs
• Sports
• Obits
• Redskins
• Real Estate
• Classifieds
• Jobs
• Search Local
• Shop
• Bride & Groom

A Stafford County Democrat has joined the race for the congressional 1st District seat.

Ted Hontz, a retired Navy captain and a businessman and community activist in the Fredericksburg area, announced his candidacy yesterday.

That makes him the second Democrat to enter the race to fill the term of Jo Ann Davis, who died of breast cancer last month. Phil Forgit of Williamsburg entered the race earlier this week.

Two more Republicans also are seeking the nomination. They are Williamsburg attorney Kevin O'Neill and Mathews County resident Rob Quartel.

Hontz is currently vice president in charge of Navy operations at Basic Commerce and Industries in Dahlgren. He spent 28 years in the Navy, is a veteran of Vietnam and the Persian Gulf, and received Legion of Merit and Bronze Star for valor awards.

He is also vice chairman of the Stafford County Economic Development Authority, serves on the board of directors of the Fredericksburg Regional Chamber of Commerce and helped found the Chamber's Military Affairs Council.

Hontz's release said he helped lobby against a 10 percent cut at the Dahlgren base during the 2005 BRAC process, and also helped get support for the University of Mary Washington's graduate school at Dahlgren.

In an interview, Hontz said he thinks Iraq is the biggest issue right now.

"From the first day that I step into the Capitol I'm going to fight to redeploy America's men and women out of harm's waychange their role, change their mission [so] we're no longer having our men and women in a situation of daily combat with no end in sight," he said.

Hontz said congested traffic near the nation's capital and in the Hampton Roads area is a national security issue. He described himself as a fiscal conservative, a proponent of individual rights and affordable health care, and a conservation advocate.

Hontz said that he's not concerned that the district has voted for a Republican for many years. The district's military families, he said, care more about a congressman who is "ready to forcefully take the issues to Capitol Hill and try to solve the nation's problems."