Warner gives Virginia another Democratic voice in the Senate

By Matthew Cahill

11/8/2008

HAMPTON, Va. – Democrats will hold both of Virginia’s U.S. Senate seats for the first time since 1970 after Mark Warner’s election victory over Jim Gilmore Tuesday.

According to the Associated Press, Democrats were counting on picking up the seat early in the race because of Warner’s substantial lead in the polls.

Gilmore expressed his doubts about the polls to Robert Dixon, director of Hampton University’s radio station, WHOV-FM 88.1.

“The people of Virginia are smart people,” Gilmore said. “I don’t care what these polls say.”

Warner defeated Gilmore by a wide margin, taking 63 percent of the vote to Gilmore’s 35 percent, with 89 percent of precincts reporting, according to the Associated Press.

According to an AP exit poll, one of four voters who considered themselves Republicans voted for Warner, and a third of those who voted for John McCain split their tickets and chose Warner.

Warner and Gilmore are both former Virginia governors. Warner will pick up the traditionally Republican seat held by Sen. John Warner, who is retiring after a 30-year Senate career. He is not related to the former governor.

In 1996, Warner tried unsuccessfully to unseat the Republican senator. Since their competition, the two have remained friends, Warner told followers at his victory party earlier Tuesday night in McLean, Va.

With the race in Virginia and other states, Democrats have strengthened their majority in the Senate and the House.

"I want to make sure Democrats don't have the same arrogance that Republicans had after the elections in 2000," Warner told the Associated Press shortly before the polls closed at 7 p.m.

Democrats have had party control of Congress for two years, the first time since 1994. Before the current 110^th Congress, the Republicans held a majority in both houses for most of the administrations of Bill Clinton and President Bush.

Historically, political parties have maintained control of the Senate for longer periods of time, often decades, according to the U.S. Senate Web site.

Addressing partisanship at his victory party, Warner said, “The challenges we face are much more about the future than the past.”

A recent CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll found that voters were split about whether the same party should control Congress and the presidency.

Rashad Drakeford, a senior political science major at Hampton, is the Historically Black Colleges and Universities coordinator for Students for Barack Obama.

Drakeford said the Warner campaign cooperated with the Obama campaign in a coordinated effort.

“The reason people down-ticket are doing so well is because of George W. Bush and his policies,” Drakeford said. “They’re kind of riding the Obama wave, to an extent.”

The writer is a senior at the Hampton University Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications.