In V.O. Key’s political science primer “Southern Politics in State and Nation”, written in 1949, Key calls Virginia a “political museum piece.” When speaking of our politics, Key said that “political power has been closely held by a small group of leaders who, themselves and their predecessors, have subverted democratic institutions and deprived most Virginians of a voice in their government.”
Of course, the “small group” Key was referring to was the Byrd Machine.
But Virginia has been plagued by more than just machine politics over the course of a century.
As we remember the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, it’s hard to forget Virginia’s role in “the recent unpleasantness.”
An adamant slave-state, students at the then recently-formed University of Virginia debated whether or not a state had the right to secede. They agreed in the affirmative, writes Susan Dunn in “Dominion of Memories.” They also debated whether “In case of the election of Lincoln should the Southern States secede?” It was resoundingly decided “yes” by a vote of 33-6.
When Virginia had the opportunity in the General Assembly in the early 1830’s to change the course of history by removing slavery in the commonwealth, Virginia demurred.
When Virginia debated secession in the critical first days of the Civil War at convention, the first vote, which included the western counties, was to reject it. But when the western counties were not included in a follow-on vote (which resulted in West Virginia), the commonwealth made the fateful decision to oppose Lincoln’s call for federal support and to resist instead.
Throughout the 20th Century, while the rest of the nation moved towards Jefferson’s ideal that “all men are created equal,” Virginia was squarely resistant, supporting a series of “Jim Crow” laws designed to segregate our population.
While Virginia has had five presidents actually from Virginia at the time of their presidency (Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and Tyler – the last being Tyler in 1845), for the past 150 years, Virginia hasn’t had a serious candidate on any national ticket until recently.
“Slavery, the Civil War, Reconstruction, segregation, machine politics, Jim Crow, and Nixon’s “southern strategy” marginalized the “Mother of Presidents” role in electoral politics.
Not anymore.
Our commonwealth is regaining its rightful place as a national leader.
Perhaps it was the election of Virginia’s first, and only the nation’s second, African-American governor, L. Douglas Wilder, and his brief run for president in 1992. Or maybe it was the well-known national figure of Oliver North running for U.S. Senate in 1994. Perhaps it was from former governors Mark Warner, George Allen, and Jim Gilmore all flirting with campaigning for presidential nominations in 2008. Maybe it was both Gilmore and former Gov. Tim Kaine running their parties’ respective national committee. Or perhaps it was rumors of the then Majority Whip Eric Cantor as a possible running mate for presidential nominee Sen. John McCain and Kaine as a possible running mate for President Barack Obama in 2008.
Regardless of what the reason, Congressman Cantor is the current Congressional majority leader and Governor Bob McDonnell is now on “any one’s short-list for vice president”, according to presidential candidate Mitt Romney, and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is leading another fight for state’s rights – this one in the court room against nationalized health care.
Virginia is clearly back.
After 150 years of being in the wilderness, our commonwealth and its 13 electoral votes are a much sought-after commodity; especially after awarding our votes to the Democrat for president in 2008 – the first time since 1964.
Instead of Virginia being the home of battlefields, it is now a political battleground of great relevance to the national debate.
To help explain Virginia’s relevance, two of Virginia’s leading political figures: the aforementioned potential VP candidate, Gov. McDonnell, and political pundit Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, help explain why.
First, Sabato on why Virginia has been resurrected:
“I’m a native and loyal Virginian who has lived here essentially all of my almost 60 years. I have personally witnessed the enormous changes that have taken place in the New, once Old, Dominion.
“When I grew up in the 1950s, Virginia was still a rural-based state governed by Jim Crow laws with “whites only” signs everywhere. It was of the Old South, reveling in its underdevelopment and separation from the rest of the country, save for Dixie. By the 1960s Virginia had already started the process of becoming a Middle Atlantic state. Jim Crow was gone, the poll tax was dead, the suburbs were burgeoning, and Virginia began to become economically competitive with northern neighbors.
“Mills Godwin was the first truly modern governor, and he deserves credit for leaving part of his own past behind and pushing Virginia forward with the sales tax, the community college system, and improvements in transportation, mental health, and a wide variety of other areas–including an updated state Constitution.
“Since then, Virginia has pretty consistently made strides. Yes, it is helped enormously by the heavy federal government influence and spending–military and otherwise. But in virtually every policy area the modern Virginia is unrecognizable compared to the state I grew up in.
“The state was once defined by black versus white. Now the development of minority communities of Hispanic and Asian origin has diversified the state, especially in Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia, but also Richmond. Wealthy suburbanites and exurbanites have brought a cosmopolitan air to much of the Commonwealth, while not obliterating the rich history that sets Virginia apart. Two-party competitiveness, which took root in the late 1960s and accelerated, has made Virginia more responsive to popular preferences and shifts. Put all this together and you find the state becoming as “purple” as any in the country, easily shifting back and forth depending on the issues and controversies of the day.
“With 13 electoral votes, likely to become 14 by 2020, Virginia is a prize worth having in presidential contests. Both parties want to win it. So our politicians have become national figures in both parties: Chuck Robb, Doug Wilder, George Allen, Jim Gilmore, Mark Warner, Tim Kaine, and now Bob McDonnell and Eric Cantor, with more to come.
“Vice presidential speculation is always a sign that a state has matured and is politically desirable (on the 1960 Lyndon Johnson model). Virginia is in the mainstream politically and economically, and as a result, as Frank Atkinson wrote, Virginia is now in the vanguard. A state wants the image of being on the cutting edge, and now we have that. It was something only dreamed about for many decades, but Virginia isn’t stodgy anymore.
Second, McDonnell on the importance of Virginia, federalism – and how Virginia is leading the new debate, and whether he will consider the vice presidency :
“Virginia has a rich and varied history with some incredibly great moments and some really tough times in our history—all of which is well-documented. But today, when you look at just the rankings that have been accumulated by both Republican and Democrat governors over the last 30 years—Best Managed State, Most Business-Friendly State, Best Place to Raise a Child, second-best college and university system in the country—we are clearly a state that is in the top-tier of the states in virtually every major category.
“Certainly our proximity to Washington, D.C. is a plus, being in the middle of the east coast is a plus and, for the most part, in the past couple decades, we’ve had a pretty fiscally conservative approach to governing, especially when we’ve had Republican governors that’s helped us to generate surpluses and keep unemployment down.
“I think there are a lot of factors that contribute to Virginia’s increase in visibility.
“One, you have off-year elections, so by definition you get more visibility. In ’09, for instance, when I won as governor, there was only one other race and that was in New Jersey, so you get more attention in your elections.
“Second, I think being a closely divided state in the legislature has also gotten us a lot of attention.
“And, third, the fact that we are looked at now as truly a swing state. We’re the 12th most populous state, the eighth most prosperous state. When you’re a swing state—as Virginia has been deemed to be the last couple cycles—you just get more attention.
“I’ll leave it up to the pundits to say why they believe there’s been resurgence in Virginia’s national prominence but I think it’s by a combination of all those things.”
JH: As the now chairman of the Republican Governor’s Association, it has to be gratifying to know that your peers – all leaders in their own-right- have chosen you to lead them. Supplanting humility, which I know you have in abundance, why do you think national leaders are looking to you to lead them?
BM: “The Republican Governors Association was immensely helpful to me [when I ran for governor] in 2009 and once I got elected I got immediately got involved in everything from helping to raise money to being selected to serve on the executive committee to help govern the organization.
“I have a passion for restoring the founders view of federalism; I think that’s one of the reason’s our country is broke is that the federal government is doing too much that they’re not supposed to do and they’re not doing it well. And, so, [the federal government is] spending a ton of money that they shouldn’t be spending. So, that’s why I really got involved in the RGA in a big way.
“I can only say that I have been very fortunate that the other governors have nominated me to be vice chair last year. I obviously wasn’t expecting to be chairman right now, but Governor Perry’s decision has given me that opportunity and, hopefully, I’ll be formally elected at the winter meeting in December to be the chairman next year.
“It’s an immensely positive opportunity for me to talk nationally about Republican governors. About the importance of federalism. About the 10th Amendment. About having the states have a loud and, maybe, collective voice at what’s best for our country – these are things that I think Republican and Democrat administrations have not paid enough attention to over the last many decades. I think it’s a critical time for America to think about the importance once again of the states.”
JH: This is obligatory and hypothetical. If you are asked to run for vice president, and you accept, will you consider yourself not fulfilling your obligation and promise to the people of the commonwealth by not completing a full term?
BM: “Listen, all I have said is that any governor that got a call from a presidential candidate that said you can help our ticket and you can help our country – any person would be interested. That’s all I said. It’s hypothetical. I’m not campaigning. I’m not looking for it. I’m thrilled to be Governor of Virginia and leading the RGA…and participating in the national debate about what’s good for our country.
“I’ve probably said everything I can possibly say about it. I’m planning to serve four years. I’m not looking for anything else other than a great upcoming two-and-a-half years of continuing to improve Virginia, but I do want to be helpful in whatever way I can in making sure we have a Republican president in 2012. I think our country’s future depends on having fiscal conservatism in the White House.”
