The Hill
A sitting senator resisting to back the party’s choice to succeed him would be extraordinary in itself, but Warner’s seat also is a top target for Democrats next year looking to increase its majority in the Senate.
The once-reliably Republican commonwealth has gradually been tilting toward the Democratic column in recent years. Junior senator Jim Webb (D) surprised many by narrowly defeating incumbent Republican George Allen in 2006, for example.
Warner has history with both of his potential successors. Democrat Mark Warner, Virginia’s governor from 2002 to 2006, narrowly lost to the senator in a 1996 bid for his seat. Mark Warner briefly flirted with a presidential campaign in 2006 but instead announced his Senate candidacy within days of John Warner’s retirement announcement. He has clinched the Democratic nomination.
Mark Warner is also a former staff member to Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.). Both Warners are considered legislative centrists.
Gilmore, who preceded Mark Warner in the Virginia governor’s office from 1998 to 2002, narrowly won the GOP nomination for the seat over the weekend and is trailing in state polls. He succeeded Allen as Virginia governor and from 2001 to 2002 was chairman of the Republican National Committee.
Like John Warner, Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) has been less than enthusiastic toward Gilmore’s candidacy. Davis once eyed the seat himself but opted not to run after the party chose to select its nominee through convention – a process that favored the more conservative Gilmore.
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