In what can only be described as a defeat for Congressman Tom Davis, the Republican Party of Virginia has decided to hold convention to pick its 2008 Senate nominee:
Virginia Republicans will hold a convention rather than a primary next year to choose their candidate to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. John W. Warner.
The state party’s central committee voted 47-37 on Saturday in favor of a convention. No date or location was decided.
Supporters of a convention argued that it’s more economical and the party would avoid a divisive public squabble between GOP rivals in a primary.
Backers of a primary said it would attract new voters to the party, which would help Republicans gear up for what is expected to be a tough race against the only announced Democratic candidate, popular former Gov. Mark Warner.
Former Gov. Jim Gilmore and U.S. Rep. Tom Davis have expressed interest in seeking the GOP nomination. Supporters of Gilmore wanted a convention while Davis backers had argued for a primary.
As I noted earlier this week, Davis and his supporters clearly favored a primary over a convention due to the perception that Davis would not fare well against in a convention made up mostly of conservatives and party insiders. Now that the RPV has decided to go the convention route, it will be interesting to see if Davis decides to run at all.
October 22nd, 2007 at 9:45 pm
[...] too much of a surprise given the Virginia GOP’s decision to go with a convention, and Davis’s own statement to the National Press Club last week hinting at a run against Jim [...]