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Republican Party of Virginia | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Chairman | Mark Peake |
| Governor of Virginia | Glenn Youngkin |
| Lieutenant Governor of Virginia | Winsome Sears |
| Senate Minority Leader | Ryan McDougle |
| House Minority Leader | Todd Gilbert |
| Founded | 1854 (1854) |
| Headquarters | Obenshain Center 115 E. Grace St. Richmond, Virginia 23219 |
| Student wing | High School Republican Federation of Virginia |
| Ideology | Conservatism |
| National affiliation | Republican Party |
| Colors | Red |
| Statewide Executive Offices | 3 / 3 |
| Senate | 19 / 40 |
| House of Delegates | 49 / 100 |
| U.S. Senate | 0 / 2 |
| U.S. House of Representatives | 5 / 11 |
| Fairfax County Board of Supervisors | 1 / 10 |
| Election symbol | |
.svg) | |
| Website | |
| virginia.gop | |
TheRepublican Party of Virginia (RPV) is theVirginia chapter of theRepublican Party. It is based at theRichard D. Obenshain Center inRichmond.[1] As of May 2024, it controls all three statewide elected offices, 5 out of 11 U.S. House seats, and the governor's seat within the state.
Five Virginians (George Rye, John H. Atkinson, James Farley, Joseph Farley, and Mr. Ashley) attended the first national organizing convention of theRepublican Party inPittsburgh.John Curtiss Underwood, Rye, and H. Carpenter were the state's delegates to the1856 Republican National Convention. They wanted to cast forty-five votes, three per congressional district and six at-large, but the convention only allotted them nine votes. They refused to vote in protest on both ballots. The delegation initially supportedDavid Wilmot for the vice-presidential nomination, but later supportedWilliam L. Dayton.[2]
Underwood formed the party's newspaper inWheeling, the first in any of the border states[3] using financial aid fromWilliam H. Seward. Underwood also received backing fromHorace Greeley andEli Thayer to form a colony for northern workers inCeredo.[4][5]
The first state convention was held on September 18, 1856, while Underwood was in another state due to threats of violence.William E. Stevenson, a future governor of West Virginia, was indicted for distributing an anti-slavery pamphlet.John C. Frémont received 291 votes in the state with 280 from the northwest.[6]
Republicans, such asCassius Marcellus Clay and Underwood, viewedJohn Brown'sraid on Harpers Ferry as damaging to the party.[7] Almost all ofAbraham Lincoln's support in the1860 election came from around Wheeling.[8] The Republicans supportedFrancis Harrison Pierpont's unionist Virginia government during the Civil War.[9]
In June 1865, theRadical Republicans, which included many of the party's founders, held a convention in Alexandria which supported black suffrage. A rival Republican convention opposed to Pierpont was held in May 1866, by former Whigs under the leadership ofJohn Botts, and formed the Union Republican Party. The convention passed resolutions criticizing Pierpont's government, supporting disenfranchising Confederates, and supporting qualified black suffrage.[10]James W. Hunnicutt, who found most of his support among black people and theUnion League, also vied for leadership of the party.[11]
SenatorHenry Wilson, at the request of Botts, had theSecond Reconstruction Act conduct voting by ballot, which Botts believed would increase white support for Republicans. Wilson unsuccessfully attempted to have the act structured to result in Pierpont administering the constitutional convention election rather than the military commander. Hunnicutt's supporters initially controlled the1868 constitutional convention and called forproperty confiscations. The Pierpont and Botts factions, andHorace Greeley feared that Hunnicutt's faction would ruin the electoral chances of the party.[12]
Edward McPherson granted printing contracts to Hunnicutt'sRichmond New Nation, but Hunnicutt complained that a majority of the contracts were given to theAlexandria Virginia State Journal.[13]
One-third of the delegates to the constitutional convention were black. Underwood, a Radical who was friends with Greeley, was selected as president.Elihu B. Washburne andSchuyler Colfax advocated for the convention to be generous towards the voting rights of former Confederates while Hunnicutt supported disenfranchisement. Theconstitution written by the convention disfranchised a large number of Confederates and required loyalty oaths for local and state officials.John Schofield opposed the loyalty oath as it would not allow for enough men to fill offices.[14]
Schofield removed Pierpont, who was appealing to the Radicals to aid in his election, from the governorship stating that his term had expired under the current constitution. Schofield sought a moderate and initially offered the position toAlexander Rives, but he declined andHenry H. Wells was appointed instead. Wells received the Republican gubernatorial nomination against other nominees, including Hunnicutt, but the loyalty oath requirement was maintained despite another attempt by Schofield. Schofield and Congress refused to finance the elections.[15] The Radicals supported Wells while the conservatives and moderates supportedGilbert Carlton Walker, who won the election.[16]
Virginia Republicans were active in fighting for theUnion side in theAmerican Civil War and helped lead the formation of theRestored Government of Virginia as well as the secession of what became the state ofWest Virginia. RepublicansFrancis Harrison Pierpont andDaniel Polsley were respectively elected the governor and lieutenant governor of the Restored Government, with Pierpont eventually taking power as the de facto governor of Virginia after the previous Democratic governorWilliam Smith was removed from office and arrested. Two more Republicans would hold office for governor,Henry H. Wells andGilbert Carlton Walker.
Republican fortunes turned downward as theRedeemer movement gathered apace and theReconstruction era ended. A brief upturn occurred whenWilliam Mahone formed theReadjuster Party, a bi-racial populist coalition of Democrats and Republicans which held its height of power from 1870 to 1883. After theVirginia Constitutional Convention of 1902, which drafted and promulgated a new constitution which disfranchised almost all African Americans in the commonwealth, the Republican Party ceased to be an effective political party in Virginia.
The party reached its nadir of representation in the General Assembly, reaching handfuls of representation in either chamber and in the U.S. House until after 1964. Historically, from the late 19th into the mid-20th centuries, the9th and2nd congressional districts were the friendliest terrain for Republicans in the state (and some of the friendliest in the former Confederacy), encompassing areas which border West Virginia. Virginia Republicans managed to helpHerbert Hoover andCharles Curtis win the 1928 election but would only regain their statewide competitiveness afterDwight D. Eisenhower carried the state in 1952.Linwood Holton would be elected in 1969 as the first Republican governor of Virginia in the 20th century, inaugurating an era of competitive elections between the two major parties.
Republicans are the minority in both the Virginia House of Delegates and Senate, and five of the state's elevenU.S. House seats are held by Republicans. As of 2024, they hold the offices of Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General.
Both of Virginia'sU.S. Senate seats have been held byDemocrats since2009.John Warner was the last Republican to represent Virginia in the U.S. Senate. First elected in1978, Warner opted to retire instead of seeking a sixth term. Former GovernorJim Gilmore ran as the Republican nominee in the2008 election and was subsequently defeated by Democratic challengerMark Warner who has held the seat since.
Out of the 11 seats Virginia is apportioned in theU.S. House of Representatives, five are held by Republicans:
| District | Member | Photo |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Rob Wittman | .jpg) |
| 2nd | Jen Kiggans | .jpg) |
| 5th | John McGuire | .jpg) |
| 6th | Ben Cline | .jpg) |
| 9th | Morgan Griffith | .jpg) |
Kate Obenshain Griffin ofWinchester became the party's chairman in 2004. Following SenatorGeorge Allen's unsuccessful 2006 reelection bid, Griffin submitted her resignation as Chairman effective November 15, 2006. Her brother,Mark Obenshain, is aState Senator fromHarrisonburg in theVirginia General Assembly. Both are the children of the lateRichard D. Obenshain.
Ed Gillespie was elected as the new Chairman of the RPV on December 2, 2006. He resigned on June 13, 2007, to become the counselor to PresidentGeorge W. Bush. Mike Thomas served as interim chairman until July 21 when formerLieutenant Governor of VirginiaJohn H. Hager was elected chairman. On April 9, 2007, the RPV namedFred Malek to serve as the Finance Chairman and Lisa Gable to serve as the Finance Committee Co-Chair.[17]
On May 31, 2008, Hager was defeated in his bid for re-election at a statewide GOP convention by a strongly conservative member of theHouse of Delegates,Jeff Frederick ofPrince William County. Frederick, who was then 32 years old, was the fifth party chairman in five years. On April 4, 2009, Frederick was removed from the position by RPV's State Central Committee, in a move backed by most of the senior GOP establishment.[18][19] Many argued that Frederick's election and later removal was a war within the party between insiders and outsiders,[20] or grassroots versus establishment Republicans.[21] After his removal, Frederick considered seeking the chairman job again at the party's May 2009 convention, but decided against it.[22][23] Pat Mullins, who was then the chairman of theLouisa County party unit and formerly the chairman of theFairfax County party unit, was selected on May 2, 2009, to serve in the interim before a special election at state party convention later that month.[24] Mullins won the special election at the May 30, 2009, convention, defeating Bill Stanley, theFranklin County chairman.[25] Mullins was re-elected at the party's June 2012 convention.[26] Mullins announced his retirement on November 5, 2014, a day after the Virginia GOP had a strong showing in the 2014 elections.[27][28]10th District Republican Committee chairmanJohn Whitbeck was elected on January 24, 2015, by the party's State Central Committee to serve out the remainder of Mullins's term.[29][30]
Whitbeck faced a challenge for the chairmanship for the 2016 election at the party's state convention from Vince Haley, who unsuccessfully ran for the Republican nomination for state senate in the 12th state Senate district in 2015.[31] Haley withdrew his candidacy in early 2016, then tried to re-enter before the convention. At the convention, the party nominations committee ruled that Haley did not qualify to seek the office, and Whitbeck was re-elected unopposed to a full four-year term.[32][33] Whitbeck resigned from his position on July 21, 2018, due to differences withCorey Stewart, the party's nominee for U.S. Senate in that year's race forU.S. Senate.[34] In September 2018, Jack R. Wilson, the party's 4th Congressional District Chairman since 2007 and a lawyer from Chesterfield County, was elected to fill the balance of Whitbeck's term.[35] On August 15, 2020, former DelegateRich Anderson was elected to a four-year term.[36]
The current chairman is SenatorMark Peake, who was elected April 12, 2025, to fill the vacancy created by Anderson's nomination asAssistant Secretary of the Air Force for Manpower and Reserve Affairs.[37]
The State Party Plan specifies the organization of the state party and how candidates will be selected. The 79-member State Central Committee sets the policy and plans for the party between larger State Conventions, which gather at least once every four years.[38]
Candidates for elective office can be selected by (1) mass meetings, (2) party canvasses, (3) conventions, or (4) primaries. A mass meeting consists of a meeting where any participants must remain until votes are taken at the end. A party canvass or "firehouse primary" allows participants to arrive anytime during announced polling hours, cast a secret ballot, and then leave. A convention includes a process for selecting delegates, and then only the delegates may vote. Mass meetings, party canvasses and conventions are conducted by party officials and volunteers. Primaries are administered by the State Board of Elections at all established polling places.[39] Because Virginia does not have party registrations, participation in primaries are open to any register voter regardless of party. However, on June 15, 2006, the Plan was amended to redefine a primary:
"Primary" is as defined in and subject to the Election Laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, except to the extent that any provisions of such laws conflict with this Plan, infringe the right to freedom of association, or are otherwise invalid.
At the same time, the Plan was amended to require participants in any of the candidate selection methods to "express in open meeting either orally or in writing as may be required their intent to support all [Republican] nominees for public office in the ensuing election".
The candidate selection process has been criticized as favoring "party insiders" and disfavoring moderate candidates. For example, bothJim Gilmore and the more moderateThomas M. Davis were seeking the 2008 Republican candidate forU.S. Senate. However, two weeks following the decision that the candidate will be selected at a convention instead of a primary,[40]Davis announced that he would not seek the nomination.
Virginia does not provide for voters to register by party. Virginia law requires"open" primaries that are not restricted based on party registration:
All persons qualified to vote... may vote at the primary. No person shall vote for the candidates of more than one party.[41]
In 2004, the Republican Party amended the State Party Plan to attempt to restrict participation in primaries to exclude voters who had voted in a Democratic primary after March 1, 2004, or in the last five years, whichever is more recent. In August 2004,Stephen Martin, an incumbent State Senator, designated that the Republican candidate for his seat in the November 2007 election should be selected by primary. The Republicans then sued the State Board of Elections demanding a closed primary be held, with taxpayer funding of a mechanism to exclude voters who had participated in past Democratic primaries.[42]
The Federal District Court dismissed the suit on standing and ripeness grounds. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed and sent the case back for a trial on its merits. The District Court then ruled that the rule forcing a party to accept the choice of its incumbent office holder of an open primary was unconstitutional. The state could continue to hold open primaries if a party opted for a primary instead of a mass meeting, party canvass, or convention to choose its nominees.[43] On October 1, 2007, the Fourth Circuit affirmed this holding, which largely left Virginia's primary system intact, striking down only the rule allowing an incumbent officeholder to choose an open primary over the objection of his or her party.[44]
The Republican State Central Committee dropped plans to require voters to sign a loyalty oath before voting in the February 2008 Presidential Primary. The party had proposed to require each voter to sign a pledge stating "I, the undersigned, pledge that I intend to support the nominee of the Republican Party for President." However, there was no way to enforce the pledge, and the proposal caused vocal public opposition.[45]
At a March 20, 2014, meeting, John Ferguson defeated Leslie Williams to become Chairman of the Campbell County Republican Committee. Williams unsuccessfully challenged the meeting before the county committee and the Fifth Congressional District Republican Committee. However, the State Central Committee overturned the vote on the grounds that schoolteachers and public employees participated in the meeting and that they must have been Democrats. In response, Ferguson and the other party officials that were elected filed a lawsuit to block a new mass meeting to fill the seats.[46]
The party headquarters building is named the Richard D. Obenshain Center in memory ofRichard D. Obenshain (1936–1978), the State Party Chairman who beginning in 1972, helped lead the party's renaissance in Virginia following 95 years of virtual control by the State'sDemocratic Party.
In 1978, "Dick" Obenshain had won the party's nomination to run for the U.S. Senate to replace retiring SenatorWilliam Scott when the 42-year-old candidate and two others were killed in anairplane crash of a twin-engine aircraft on August 2, 1978, while attempting a night landing at theChesterfield County Airport. They had been returning to Richmond from a campaign appearance.
Over one million voters participated in the2016 Virginia Republican presidential primary.[47]Donald Trump placed first with 35% of the vote, followed byMarco Rubio (32%),Ted Cruz (17%),John Kasich (10%), andBen Carson (6%).[48] The party held its quadrennial convention inRoanoke and elected 13 at-large delegates to the Republican National Convention, 10 of which pledged to support Ted Cruz in the event of a contested convention.[49] In the general election, Democratic presidential nomineeHillary Clinton defeated Donald Trump 50% to 45%.[50]
In the2016 United States House of Representatives elections in Virginia, the Republicans lost one seat but maintained a 7–4 majority in their representative delegation.
In 2017, the party nominatedEd Gillespie for governor,Jill Vogel for lieutenant governor, andJohn Adams for attorney general via an open primary. All three lost to their Democratic opponents. Gillespie lost toRalph Northam by a margin of 8.93%.
The Republican Party lost 15 seats in the2017 Virginia House of Delegates election. This resulted in the Republicans going from a 66–34 majority to a 51–49 majority in the Virginia House of Delegates.
In 2018, incumbent Democratic senatorTim Kaine defeated RepublicanCorey Stewart by a margin of 16% in the2018 United States Senate election in Virginia. The party also lost three seats in theHouse of Representatives elections, giving Democrats a 7–4 majority.
In 2019, the party lost their majorities in the House of Delegates and State Senate. Democrats gained two seats in the2019 Virginia Senate election, giving them a 21–19 majority. Democrats gained six seats in the2019 Virginia House of Delegates election, giving them a 55–45 majority.
In 2020, Democratic presidential nomineeJoe Biden defeated incumbent PresidentDonald Trump by 10.11%. Both parties maintained their seats in the2020 United States House of Representatives elections in Virginia. Incumbent Democratic senatorMark Warner defeated Republican challengerDaniel Gade by 12.1% in the2020 United States Senate election in Virginia.
In2021, Republican nomineeGlenn Youngkin defeated former governorTerry McAuliffe by a 51%–48.5% margin. The GOP nominees for Lieutenant Governor,Winsome Sears, and Attorney General,Jason Miyares, also won their respective races. This was the first time Republicans won a statewide election in the Commonwealthsince 2009. The party gained seven seats in the House of Delegates to have a majority of 52–48, withTodd Gilbert as the new Speaker of the House.[51] These races were seen as a crucial bellwether for the2022 midterms, as they took place during a period of low approval for PresidentJoe Biden.
In 2023, the party lost their majority again in the House of Delegates and failed to win a majority in the State Senate, blocking Governor Youngkin's abilities to pass a more conservative agenda.
Prior to the January 6joint session of the United States Congress to certifyJoe Biden's win, Republican DelegatesDave LaRock (Loudon),Mark Cole (Fauquier), andRonnie Campbell (R-Lexington) sent a letter to Vice PresidentMike Pence urging him to nullify Virginia's electoral results.[52] Democratic Speaker of the House Elieen Filler-Corn punished the members by stripping them of their committee assignments.[53]
Republican 2021 candidate for Governor Sen.Amanda Chase attended the rally prior to the January 6storming of the United States Capitol. After the riot that left one person dead,[54] party chairman Rich Anderson said in a statement "I and Virginia Republicans across our great Commonwealth condemn these despicable acts without reservation or hesitation.[55]"
Democratic Party of Virginia Chairwoman Susan Swecker quickly condemned the Republican officials, saying "The Republican Party has made their disdain for democracy clear, and every elected GOP official has been complicit.[56]"
In December 2020, the State Central Committee voted to choose its candidates for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General by convention, not by a primary. Candidate Sen. Amanda Chase threatened to run as an independent, but quickly backtracked and said she would reluctantly participate in a convention. The State Central Committee has held several meetings to reconsider the decision to hold a convention.[57]
At a January 2021 State Central Committee meeting, Party Chairman Rich Anderson called the Party Headquarters in Richmond a "literal ghetto. Democrats and other Republicans criticized him for the choice of words, while he defended himself by pointing out that “ghetto has nothing to do with race” and that he had only been referring to the building, not the neighborhood.[58]"
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