Former GOP governor Linwood Holton today endorsed a Democrat for president for the first time and is going to stump critical areas of the state for him.
Linwood Holton is the hero of moderate Republicans in Virginia. He defeated the segregationist Democrat for governor and fought GOP rightwingers. Holton is widely regarded as the father of the Republican party in Virginia. When Richmond public schools were ordered integrated Holton enrolled his children in the AA school close to the governor's mansion and walked them to school.
He supported his son-in-law Tim Kaine for governor but has never supported a Democratic presidential candidate.
Not only endorsing Obama but campaigning heavily:
Holton and his daughter, Anne, will campaign Monday and Tuesday in Southwest Virginia. The tour will be a homecoming for Holton, who was born in Big Stone Gap.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/...
The Holtons will hold community forums in Wise, Abingdon and Galax tomorrow, and in Wytheville, Christiansburg and Roanoke on Tuesday, the Obama campaign said yesterday.
http://www.inrich.com/...
Don't underestimate Holton's influence with independents and moderate Republicans in Virginia. Public buildings and schools all over the state, and especially in southwest Virginia, are named for him. Not only endorsing but actually stumping the state for Obama is a very big plus.
Wikipedia on Holton:
Abner Linwood Holton, Jr. (born September 21, 1923) was the first Republican Governor of Virginia since Reconstruction. He was governor from 1970 to 1974. He was the Republican candidate for governor in 1965 but was defeated by Democrat Mills E. Godwin, Jr. He later unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for the US Senate in 1978, having finished third in a field of Richard D. Obenshain, John Warner, and Nathan H. Miller.
Holton was a member of the mountain-valley Republican Party (GOP) that fought the Byrd Organization and was not in favor of welcoming conservative Democrats into the Virginia Republican Party. In 1970, when forced busing was an issue in Virginia, Holton voluntarily placed his children (including future First Lady of Virginia Anne Holton) in the mostly African-American Richmond public schools garnering much publicity. The Republican party, in response, turned their back on him and supported Godwin in 1974, a former conservative Democrat who had turned Republican and who supported "massive resistance" to desegregation.[1][2]
As governor he pushed hard to field Republican candidates in all statewide races instead of endorsing conservative alternatives. This led to weak moderate GOP candidates who ran third in the Virginia US Senate election in 1970 and the special election in 1971 to choose a successor for the deceased J. Sargeant Reynolds.
As the Virginia Republican Party became more conservative, he found himself more in line with the state Democratic Party, ultimately endorsing several Democrats for statewide office, including his son-in-law, Governor Tim Kaine (he has in the past supported moderate Republicans, including John Warner).
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Great tribute to Holton:
"Sorensen Institute Honors Linwood Holton"
http://www.sorenseninstitute.org/...