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-Ivy.

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 Wednesday. “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 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 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.”

GOP presidential nominee John McCain won the 5th District by a margin of 7,512 votes in 2008, but most political analysts agree that Obama’s candidacy motivated numerous voters in the district to cast a ballot, many of them for the first time.

Organizing for America, Obama’s grassroots network at the Democratic National Committee, has launched a new effort to encourage Virginia’s 524,273 first-time voters in 2008 to return to the polls to support Democrats such as Perriello this November.

“The first-time voters that President Obama brought into the electoral process in 2008 share a special connection with the president and have made significant investments in his success,” said Brandyn Keating, the group’s Virginia director. “OFA has continued to engage this volunteer base and these voters throughout the last 16 months and is uniquely positioned to bring them back to the polls in November to the advantage of the president’s allies in Congress.”

Isaac Wood, a House race analyst for the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, said Goode’s endorsement of Hurt could help unify the Republican grassroots behind Hurt.

“Virgil Goode is certainly still an important figure in the district,” Wood said. “His statements have been carefully scrutinized for any hint of what he would do. This news is certainly welcome to Robert Hurt. Perriello’s supporters had been quite optimistic about winning over some ‘Virgil Democrats’ in this year’s election, but this open endorsement could well stem some of that potential support.”

Certain outspoken GOP and Tea Party activists have been hostile to Hurt, pointing out that he voted in favor of a $1.4 billion tax increase in 2004 championed by Democrat Mark Warner.

Jeff Clark, a Danville Tea Party member, has filed petitions with the State Board of Elections to appear on November’s ballot as an independent. The elections agency is in the process of verifying that he has the minimum 1,000 signatures needed to qualify.

Clark has said he would run if Hurt won the nomination, as he views Hurt as too moderate.

Goode declined to comment on Clark’s possible candidacy, noting that Clark has not yet qualified to appear on the ballot.

Wood said Goode’s endorsement of Hurt might minimize the damage to Hurt’s candidacy brought about by Clark’s third-party bid.

“Robert Hurt needs as unified a Republican Party as he can get,” Wood said. “With the always unpredictable Virgil Goode now backing Hurt, Republicans are one step closer to shutting down Jeff Clark’s ability to siphon off conservative votes.”