GOP Legislators Endorse Creigh

Seven Republican and one Independent legislators from across the Commonwealth endorsed Creigh today.

Endorsements during a campaign are a dime a dozen, and as a general matter, I don't get too worked about them, whether good or bad. When Sheila Johnson came out in favor of Bob McDonnell the other day, it was a big yawn to me.

That said, seven Republicans from the General Assembly crossing party lines to endorse Creigh strikes me as significant for a few reasons.

First, in the hyper-partisan atmosphere of Richmond, cross-party endorsements are not common. More importantly, in this atmosphere these endorsers risk the disfavor of their own party for their actions (as opposed to, say, Johnson, whose "cross-party" endorsement, to the extent she had public status as a Democrat, cost her and her economic interests nothing). In short, this is clearly not a decision these legislators too lightly, or one they took for trivial reasons.

Second, these are people who have worked closely with both Creigh and Mr. McDonnell in Richmond, and had the chance of observing both men in how they conduct themselves in the context of governing. So their endorsement is a knowledgeable one from people with a unique perspective on seeing and evaluating the relative qualifications of Creigh and Mr. McDonnell to serve as Governor.

Finally, these legislators represent a cross section of the Commonwealth geographically, so it is not simply a case of local politicos supporting a favorite son. As you can see from the list below, these legislators represent urban, exurban and rural areas, as well as Southwest Virginia, NoVA and Newport News.

The legislators javascript:void(0)endorsing Creigh are:

Sen. Brandon Bell (R-Roanoke Co.)
Sen. John Chichester (R-Stafford)
Sen. Russ Potts (R-Winchester)
Sen. Marty Williams (R-Newport News)
Sen. Warren E. Berry (R-Fairfax)
Del. Anne G. "Panny" Rhodes (R-Richmond)
Del. Katherine Waddell (I-Richmond)
Del. Jim Dillard (R-Fairfax)