Elections: Yes, Virginia, There Is a G.O.P.

Despite staunch support from Senator Harry Byrd’s Democratic machine in Virginia’s gubernatorial election last month, Lieutenant Governor Mills Godwin won only after beating down a strong challenge by Republican Candidate A. Linwood Holton, who captured 38% of the votes—and proved that the state could no longer be considered a Byrd sanctuary. Last week brought even more impressive evidence of change in the Old Dominion. The occasion was a special election to fill the state senate seat vacated by Harry F. Byrd Jr., 51, whose appointment to the U.S. Senate last month in place of his ailing father has been widely criticized by Virginians.

The outcome was a landslide for G.O.P. Candidate J. Kenneth Robinson, 49, a World War II infantry major and—like old Harry Byrd—an apple grower. Robinson rolled over Byrd-backed County Attorney Joseph A. Massie Jr. by 10,293 votes to 4,949, a better than 2-to-l margin, capturing a seat in an area that has been Democratic for years. His victory, concluded Robinson, “will encourage other Republicans to run for office. So many good candidates have thought that they have to run as Democrats to win.”