CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Adele Stichel, the Charlottesville attorney and activist, announced Thursday she is dropping her bid for the Democratic nomination for the Congressional seat in the 5th District and throwing her support behind former Congressman Tom Perriello.

Perriello, the last Democrat to win the Fifth District, announced his intention to run for the seat he held from 2008-2010 earlier this week.

“When I woke up yesterday morning, I believed that I was the best candidate to fight for and flip Virginia’s 5th District,” Stichel wrote in a statement posted on her website and on social media. “By last night, I knew that I would be ending my campaign to endorse Tom Perriello.”

Stichel, who announced her candidacy in October, said she met with Perriello on Wednesday, at Perriello’s request, and the two discussed the issues facing the region and the country.

“Tom is our best chance to win, and to make that win more than a victory for the status quo.  It’s not only that he has flipped the 5th before,” Stichel wrote. “It’s not only that he has the experience and resources to put up the fight we need right now.  I am supporting Tom because I believe that he will also fight for real change once in office.”

Democrats had been lining up to challenge Republican incumbent John McGuire, who may face his own primary from Bob Good, who McGuire defeated for the seat in the last election. But after Perriello’s announcement, Crozet’s Paul Riley, a retired Army veteran, and Lynchburg businessperson Kate Zabriskie, both dropped from the race.

Only Albemarle County supervisor Mike Pruitt, a Navy veteran, remains.

Pruitt indicated Thursday his intention to stay in the race.

“I didn’t get into this race because it would be easy,” Pruitt said in a statement released by his campaign. “I’m running this race for communities like the one that raised me—working class, rural communities that both parties are leaving behind.”

The release notes that Pruitt has out-fundraised McGuire $223,585-169.822 and touted “more than 30 local endorsements,” including Charlottesville Mayor Juandiego Wade, Prince Edward County Supervisor Odessa Pride, Albemarle Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Hingely, and Fluvanna Board of Supervisors Vice Chair Tony O’Brien.

Those endorsements were made, however, before Perriello entered the race.

Former Virginia Governor Ralph Northam endorsed Perriello – who Northam defeated in a 2017 gubernatorial primary, on Thursday.

“It is my great honor to endorse my friend Tom Perriello to once again represent the hardworking people of the 5th Congressional District,” Northam said in a statement released by Perriello’s campaign. “Tom knew that voting for the Affordable Care Act was the right thing to do, and as a doctor, I’ve seen firsthand how this law saves lives. But now our hospitals are under threat and hundreds of thousands of Virginians will lose their coverage as a result of the MAGA attacks on Medicaid and the ACA. We need a fighter who will ensure all communities — rural and urban — have access to quality affordable health care. That fighter is Tom Perriello.”