Former GOP congressman Virgil H. Goode Jr. says he will endorse Republican nominee Robert Hurt in the race against U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello, D-5th District.

Goode, a lawyer from Rocky Mount who represented the 5th District in Congress for six terms, lost his seat to Perriello in 2008 by a margin of only 727 votes.

“Yes, I plan to support the nominee,” Goode said today. “I think he has a very good chance of beating Tom Perriello.”

Hurt, a state lawmaker from Chatham, beat out six other Republicans to win his party’s nomination against Perriello on Tuesday. Hurt carried the 5th District - which extends from the Charlottesville region down to Southside - with a decisive 48 percent of the vote.

Goode declined to endorse any of the GOP candidates during the primary, though he spoke highly of all of them and appeared at fundraising events for Hurt, Albemarle County Supervisor Kenneth C. Boyd and others.

Hurt has a good shot of defeating Perriello, Goode said, because many of the voters who turned out in 2008 to support Barack Obama might not turn out at the same level for this race.

“I don’t think that’ll be there for him in 2010,” Goode said. “That was a big factor in his victory.”