| 1960 – John Kennedy (D) | 1961 – Albertis Harrison (D) |
| 1964 – Lyndon Johnson (D) | 1965 – Mills Godwin (D) |
| 1968 – Richard Nixon (R) | 1969 – Linwood Holton (R) |
| 1972 – Richard Nixon (R) | 1973 – Mills Godwin (R) |
| 1976 – Jimmy Carter (D) | 1977 – John Dalton (R) |
| 1980 – Ronald Reagan (R) | 1981 – Chuck Robb (D) |
| 1984 – Ronald Reagan (R) | 1985 – Gerry Baliles (D) |
| 1988 – George H.W. Bush (R) | 1989 – Doug Wilder (D) |
| 1992 – Bill Clinton (D) | 1993 – George Allen (R) |
| 1996 – Bill Clinton (D) | 1997 – Jim Gilmore (R) |
| 2000 – George W. Bush (R) | 2001 – Mark Warner (D) |
| 2004 – George W. Bush (R) | 2005 – Tim Kaine (D) |
| 2008 – ??? | 2009 – ???? |
See the pattern? For the last 30 years, Virginia has elected a governor from the opposite party of the president. One could speculate a number of reasons for this, although some say it’s pure coincidence.
Looking forward to 2008, I think the Democrats have the better slate of candidates for president. Combine that with the dismal approval rating of Bush, I’d say that a Democratic win is likely.
But if the curse holds, that means we would be looking at a Republican governor in 2009. Yes, I know it’s a long time off. But it’s something to think about.
So what would you rather have: a Democratic president and a Republican governor or a Republican president and a Democratic governor?
23 Comments
Without question, I’d rather have a Democratic president, and a Republican governor.
Like Johnny Camacho, I can say my answer with full confidence. I would prefer having a Republican president and a Democratic governor than vice-versa.
Brilliant post, Vivian!
How about “Right man for the job” as prez and “right man for the job” as gov??? That’s my real preference.
But if I have to follow Virginia’s voting trends, I’d say “GOP Prez, Dem Gov”.
Actually, how about “GOP Prez, Libertarian Gov”
If anyone is interested in looking at how the Senators we elect compare, here are the Senators election results from Virginia since ‘66. Presidential election years are bolded.
Harry Flood Byrd, Jr. (D,I) (won special election in 1966 as a Democrat)
William B. Spong, Jr. (D) (1966)
(Harry Flood Byrd, Jr. (I – caucused with Democrats) (1970)
William L. Scott (R) (1972)
Harry Flood Byrd, Jr (I – caucused with Democrats) (1976)
John W. Warner (R) (1978)
Paul S. Trible, Jr. (R) (1982)
John W. Warner (R) (1984)
Charles S. Robb (D) (1988)
John W. Warner (R) (1990)
Charles S. Robb (D) (1994)
John W. Warner (R) (1996)
George F. Allen (R) (2000)
John W. Warner (R) (2002)
Jim Webb (D) (2006)
we can have both a dem prez and dem governor. what is the problem with that?
va is trending blue. go for it. don’t sit on your hands and dilly dally.
oh my gooness , we must just work real hard.
Thanks for that chart. Think of it the next time someone tells you that Virginia is a “red state.”
Call me crazy, but going into redistricting I’d like the big guy in Virginia to be a Democrat. I think the next President will be a one-termer only and wont really get much accomplished.
OK, I’m in MD, which means I saw all your VA-Gov commercials
What does your GOP bench look like? If Kilgore is representative, you might be looking at Dem-Dem, regardless.
Why would anyone elect a republiCON for anything? Are you nuts?
Given the track record of these patterns, I’m not so worried that the choice would be forced upon us. But if it were, I’d happily take Dem Prez, GOP Gov, and Dem Legislature
I have to say that this is a really hard choice for me. Like Nova Dem, I want a D in charge due to the redistricting issue. But with the ages of some of the Supreme Court justices, I’d prefer to have a D in the White House to select their replacements.
So as long as the D’s control the legislature (at both the Commonwealth & federal levels), I’ll go along with MB and have a D president and R governor.
Vivian and VAB, I think what your chart helps to show is the misnomer of calling Virginia a “red state.” We’ve always been a bit purple. Yes, in the Presidential years since 1964, we’ve gone for the Republican Presidential candidate. But down state from that, we’ve been pretty mixed. I think in the last 20 years we saw a hard swing to the right, basically because of 100 years or so of Democratic control.
I think we’re seeing that balance out a bit. The interesting thing will be where Virginia falls in the Presidential race next year. It would be a mistake for the GOP to take Virginia for granted.
Clearly, a Republican for President and a Democrat for Governor.
The federal system is set up to be a limited government. It is limited to those things specified in Article I, Section 8. The Republicans claim to hold to that limited government theory. Even if in practice they stray, they are at least somewhat restrained by that theory.
It is the States where the principles of the Democratic Party shine. Education, helping the poor, roads, etc., are all the purview of the state governments.
Apparently you’ve been asleep for the past seven years. Welcome to 2007.
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[...] 2009 Gubernatorial Race, National, Politics, Virginia by vjp on July 22nd, 2008 A year ago, I asked for opinions on which you would prefer, a Democratic president followed by a Republican governor or [...]