CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Albemarle County Board of Supervisor Mike Pruitt, a Navy veteran and civil rights attorney, announced Wednesday he is dropping his Congressional bid and will endorse fellow Democrat Tom Perriello. Pruitt cited the new redistricting maps as the driving force behind his decision.

Albemarle County and Charlottesville, which are currently in the 5th District, would move to the 6th if Democratic redistricting measures are supported by a public vote this spring. Perriello is expected to run in the 6th District, where he resides, against Republican incumbent Ben Cline. When Perriello and Pruitt entered the race, they did so to run against 5th District Republican incumbent John McGuire.

“I’m a fighter. I joined this race knowing I’d face a hard, uphill battle,” Pruitt said in a statement released Wednesday afternoon. “But with the newly publicized district maps, I now know that such a fight will do more harm than good. Just as I know Tom Perriello will put in the work to stand up for rural, working Virginians in Congress. Today I am ending my campaign and announcing that I will support him in that effort. I will also independently continue to advocate for the communities that both parties have left behind.”

The Perriello campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Pruitt’s statement thanked his supporters and praised his campaign’s grassroots effort for raising over $450,000 from over 7,500 donors, with contributions coming from across the country. His statement said the campaign brought him to 19 separate localities and attracted over 500 volunteers.

And Pruitt took one final shot at McGuire as he bowed out of the race.

“We deserve better than politicians like John McGuire who let corporations turn our lives into profit while our communities pay the price,” Pruitt’s statement said.

When Perriello entered the race in December, most of his other Democratic challengers, including Adele Stichel, Paul Wiley and Katie Zabriskie, almost immediately dropped out. But Pruitt, who represents the Scottsville District, stayed in the race. Pruitt hung in even as Perriello picked up endorsements from the party’s biggest Virginia names, including Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner.

At the time, Pruitt told Cville Right Now, “I am a man of my word. I’ve said pretty publicly and pretty consistently that I’m in this fight and I’m going to stay in this fight.”

Perriello, a Charlottesville native, raised more than triple the amount brought in by Pruitt in the last quarter of 2025.

Perriello, who declared his candidacy for the 5th District seat – a post he was the last Democrat to hold when he was represented the district from 2009-11 – raised $712,825.09 in December. He ended the year with $676,616.07 cash on hand, according to a Federal Election Commission disclosure.

Pruitt, who declared for the race in July, before Perriello entered, raised $223,585.11 from Oct.-Dec. and had $138,621.73 cash on hand when January began.