Politics of Virginia
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The politics of Virginia reflect a state that is beginning to experience a conflict between its increasingly liberal northern region and its traditionally conservative southern region. The Libertarian Party of Virginia, the Independent Greens, and other third parties as well as independents have benefited from electoral reform in Virginia, especially streamlined ballot access, and have made their presence known by appearing on statewide ballots and even winning seats to soil and water conservation district boards.
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[edit] History
After the American Civil War (1861-1865), Virginia was in political turmoil. 48 former counties now in West Virginia were gone, soon to be joined by two more. Although the Commonwealth of Virginia unsuccessfully appealed ot the U.S. Supreme Court, these 50 counties joined the earlier Lost counties of Virginia. In the remaining area, many citizens, mostly males of African American heritage, were newly enfranchised to vote. Many others, primarily former Confederates, were initially disenfranchised.
Elections resumed after 5 years as U.S. Military District, and control was chaotic. In the late 1870s, a coalition of Conservative Democrats, Republicans and African Americans was assembled and the Readjuster Party took power for about 10 years. After U.S. Senator William Mahone and the Readjuster Party lost control of Virginia politics around 1883, the Democratic Party disfranchised African Americans by the turn of the century. Whites in Virginia continued to vote for the Democratic Party, which held a nearly unchallenged majority of state and most federal offices through the middle of the 20th century. The Byrd Organization headed by Harry F. Byrd Sr. largely controlled statewide politics. Through the Civil Rights Movement, African Americans regained the franchise and other rights. Conservative whites began to leave the Democratic Party.
In 1970, Republican A. Linwood Holton Jr. became the first Republican governor in the 20th century, effectively ending the influence of the Byrd Organization. Holton was succeeded by two other Republican governors in the 1970s.
Virginia has voted for Republicans in every presidential election since 1952 except for the Democratic landslide in 1964. Virginia's current streak of voting for Republicans in ten consecutive presidential elections since 1968, when Richard Nixon began the Southern Strategy, is the longest among the former Confederate States. Virginia was the only such state to vote for Gerald Ford over Jimmy Carter in 1976. The last Democrat to receive any of Virginia's electoral votes was Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.
[edit] Recent events
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In 1989, Doug Wilder became the first black man to be elected Governor of a U.S. state. Despite Virginia's support of Republican presidential candidates and reputation as a conservative state, voters elected Democratic candidates for all three gubernatorial races in the 1980s. In addition, Democratic representatives maintained large majorities in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly. Many Democratic state representatives from rural and suburban districts had conservative stances on various issues.
In the 1990s Virginia experienced some political realignment, electing conservative Republicans George Allen and Jim Gilmore to the Governorship from 1994 until 2002. Republicans captured both houses of the General Assembly and built large majorities. Republican representatives replaced Conservative and moderate Democrats from rural and suburban areas. Within the Republican party, more conservative office holders supplanted the remnants of the less conservative "mountain-valley" faction of Holton, so named because many members were from the Shenandoah Valley and Southwest Virginia.
After years of Republican governorships, including Jim Gilmore whose famous "no car tax" pledge was emblazoned on bumper stickers and yard signs across the state, in 2001, Mark Warner, a liberal businessman, won the governorship and confronted the budget difficulties related to the recession by cutting money from all state departments. Virginia's executive branch is weakened by the fact that governors are only allowed one term, a constitutional provision that distinguishes Virginia from any other state in the union. After decades of Democratic rule in the Virginia General Assembly, Republicans took control around the turn of the 21st century and promptly redistricted to protect their incumbents. Tim Kaine, Warner's lieutenant governor, won the governorship in 2005 after a bitter and negative campaign against Jerry Kilgore and "independent Republican" state senator Russ Potts.
In 2006, Jim Webb narrowly defeated George Felix Allen in the wake of the Macaca slur incident. The electorate's reaction to Allen's gaffe further demonstrated the changing sensibilities of the region's citizens; prior to that, Allen had a double-digit lead in the polls. In 2007, Virginia abusive driver fees legislation created another political firestorm when residents realized that they faced $3,000 fines for certain moving violations; an online petition quickly gathered hundreds of thousands of signatures, spurring legislators up for re-election that November to reconsider their positions. This was the first time that the Internet played such a dramatic role in influencing Virginia politics[1]. In 2007, the Democrats regained control of the State Senate, and narrowed the Republican majority in the House of Delegates to 7 or 8 votes.[2]
[edit] Regional differences
Northern Virginia, Fairfax County in particular, has begun to favor Democratic candidates in recent elections. This is likely due to the large migration of people from the liberal Northeastern states into the Washington Metropolitan Area (which includes Northern Virginia). John Kerry won Fairfax County, long a Republican stronghold, by a slim 2.4% and generally fared better in the rest of Northern Virginia than Al Gore did in 2000. Despite this improvement however, he still lost every other county in the Northern Virginia region in the 2004 election. In contrast to the changing voting trend in Northern Virginia, the majority of the rest of Virginia is still strongly supportive of the Republican Party. Some portions of the state like college towns and the southeastern counties in the Black Belt Region are more likely to vote Democratic though.
In 2005 and 2006, Democrats Tim Kaine (running for Governor) and Jim Webb (in a race for Senator) won nearly all jurisdictions within the Northern Virginia region. Alexandria resident Mark Warner had not won so many jurisdictions when winning the governorship in 2001. By contrast, Warner performed comparatively strongly in rural areas, particularly Southwest Virginia. His campaign had stressed respect for rural cultural values (such as gun rights) and strategies for economic development. Most elected officials are Republicans in the state's largest city, Virginia Beach, which has a population in excess of 450,000. However, most elected officials, including a majority of the county board of supervisors, in the state's most populous county, Fairfax County, are Democrats.
[edit] Criticism
Dozens of Delegates run unopposed each election cycle, which led 2001 Libertarian gubernatorial candidate and current national LP chair Bill Redpath to conclude that "Virginia has a democracy that is uncompetitive and boring."[3] A proposal was made to shake up the system by replacing the 40 single-member state Senate districts with 10 4-member at-large districts, which could allow a mix of urban Republicans and rural Democrats, as opposed to the urban Democrats and rural Republicans typically elected by the current system; this could also make it easier for an occasional independent or third-party candidate to win election. In 2007, Democrats regained control of the Virginia Senate.[4]
[edit] Statewide referenda
In 2006, there was a statewide referendum on the Marshall-Newman Amendment to add a provision to the Bill of Rights of the Virginia Constitution banning gay marriage. The slim margin by which it passed bore witness to the changing contours of Virginia politics.
[edit] References
- ^ Va. Driver Fees Now Election Weapon, Tim Craig, The Washington Post, July 17, 2007.
- ^ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/07/AR2007110700553_2.html Retrieved 2007-11-07.
- ^ Bill Redpath, Libertarian Candidate for Virginia Governor, The Washington Post, Oct. 12, 2001.
- ^ Kaine Hails 'Balance' in New Political Landscape, Tim Craig and Anita Kumar, The Washington Post, November 8, 2007.
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