The 2005 Virginia gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 2005, to elect the
Governor of Virginia
The governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia is the head of government of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. The Governor (United States), governor is head of the Government_of_Virginia#Executive_branch, executive branch ...
. The
Democratic nominee, Lieutenant Governor
Tim Kaine
Timothy Michael Kaine ( ; born February 26, 1958) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States senator from Virginia since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party (United States ...
, the son-in-law to
Linwood Holton
Abner Linwood Holton Jr. (September 21, 1923October 28, 2021) was an American politician and attorney. He served as the List of governors of Virginia, 61st governor of Virginia, from 1970 to 1974, and was the first elected History of the United ...
, won the election.
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
is the only state in the United States to prohibit
governor
A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...
s from serving
successive terms, meaning that the popular incumbent,
Mark Warner
Mark Robert Warner (born December 15, 1954) is an American businessman and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Virginia, a seat he has held since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, Warner served as the 69th gove ...
, could not run for reelection.
While the previous Democratic Governor, Mark Warner, was credited with doing especially well for a Democrat in rural areas of the commonwealth, Kaine's win featured surprising triumphs in traditionally Republican areas such as
Virginia Beach
Virginia Beach (colloquially VB) is the List of cities in Virginia, most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. The city is located on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in southeaster ...
,
Chesapeake, and the Northern Virginia
suburb
A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...
s of
Prince William County
Prince William County lies beside the Potomac River in the Commonwealth of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 482,204, making it Virginia's second most populous county. The county seat is the independent city of Manassas. A part ...
and
Loudoun County
Loudoun County () is in the northern part of the Virginia, Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. In 2020, the census returned a population of 420,959, making it Virginia's third-most populous county. The county seat is Leesburg, Virgi ...
, as well as impressive showings in Democratic strongholds such as
Richmond
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, California, a city in the United States
* Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...
and
Norfolk
Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...
. This is the most recent election in which a Virginia Governor and Lieutenant Governor of opposite parties were elected.
Democratic primary
*
Tim Kaine
Timothy Michael Kaine ( ; born February 26, 1958) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States senator from Virginia since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party (United States ...
,
Lieutenant Governor of Virginia
The lieutenant governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia is a constitutional officer of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The lieutenant governor is elected every four years along with the governor and attorney general.
The office is currently held ...
and former
Mayor of Richmond
Republican primary
Candidates
*George Fitch, Mayor of
Warrenton
*
Jerry Kilgore, former
Attorney General of Virginia
The attorney general of Virginia is an elected constitutional position that holds an Executive (government), executive office in the government of Virginia. Attorneys general are elected for a four-year term in the year following a United State ...
Results
General election
Candidates
*
Tim Kaine
Timothy Michael Kaine ( ; born February 26, 1958) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States senator from Virginia since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party (United States ...
,
Lieutenant Governor of Virginia
The lieutenant governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia is a constitutional officer of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The lieutenant governor is elected every four years along with the governor and attorney general.
The office is currently held ...
and former
Mayor of Richmond (Democratic)
*
Jerry Kilgore, former
Attorney General of Virginia
The attorney general of Virginia is an elected constitutional position that holds an Executive (government), executive office in the government of Virginia. Attorneys general are elected for a four-year term in the year following a United State ...
(Republican)
*
Russ Potts
Harry Russell Potts Jr. (March 4, 1939 – December 19, 2021) was an American businessman, journalist, and politician who served as a Republican state senator in Virginia, representing the 27th district from 1992 to 2008. An independent candi ...
,
State Senator
A state senator is a member of a State legislature (United States), state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature.
History
There are typically fewer state senators than there ...
from
Winchester
Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...
(Independent Republican)
The general election was expected to be close, with
Independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States
* Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...
candidate
Russ Potts
Harry Russell Potts Jr. (March 4, 1939 – December 19, 2021) was an American businessman, journalist, and politician who served as a Republican state senator in Virginia, representing the 27th district from 1992 to 2008. An independent candi ...
as a possible spoiler candidate. Kaine remained behind in polls throughout most of the campaign, at one point 10 points behind Kilgore, but captured a slight lead in the final weeks of the campaign. Kaine led in some polls for the first time in October 2005, and held his lead into the final week before the election.
Kaine closely associated himself with popular outgoing Democratic Governor
Mark Warner
Mark Robert Warner (born December 15, 1954) is an American businessman and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Virginia, a seat he has held since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, Warner served as the 69th gove ...
during his campaign; he won his race by a slightly larger margin than Warner. He promised homeowner tax relief, centrist fiscal leadership, and strong support for education. A number of factors, from the sagging poll numbers of President
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
to a public disgust over the death penalty ads run by Kilgore, have also been cited as key to his decisive win.
The election was the most expensive in Virginia history, with the candidates combined raising over $42 million
Campaign
Kilgore resigned as attorney general in February 2005 to run for governor (as is the convention in Virginia) and easily won the
primary election
Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pr ...
against
Warrenton Mayor
George B. Fitch to become the Republican nominee. In the general election, he ran against Democratic nominee
Tim Kaine
Timothy Michael Kaine ( ; born February 26, 1958) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States senator from Virginia since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party (United States ...
, the
Lieutenant Governor of Virginia
The lieutenant governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia is a constitutional officer of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The lieutenant governor is elected every four years along with the governor and attorney general.
The office is currently held ...
, and State Senator
Russ Potts
Harry Russell Potts Jr. (March 4, 1939 – December 19, 2021) was an American businessman, journalist, and politician who served as a Republican state senator in Virginia, representing the 27th district from 1992 to 2008. An independent candi ...
, a
pro-choice
Abortion-rights movements, also self-styled as pro-choice movements, are movements that advocate for legal access to induced abortion services, including elective abortion. They seek to represent and support women who wish to terminate their ...
Republican who ran as an independent candidate. Early in the race, Kilgore showed solid leads of ten points or more in the polls, but Kaine steadily closed the gap and ultimately defeated Kilgore by a margin of 52% to 46%.
Kilgore's campaign was at times criticized for taking steps to avoid debates; Kilgore refused to debate Potts for the majority of the campaign, at times leaving Kaine and Potts to debate each other in his absence. He agreed to debate only with Kaine, and only if the footage could not be aired in campaign commercials. During this debate, he refused to answer whether or not he would make
abortion
Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...
a crime. This apparent public moderation of his previously open and hard-line stance on abortion troubled some of his conservative supporters.
He was further criticized for failing to limit his
negative advertisements to 50% of his campaign's total publicity as Kaine proposed. One such advertisement featured a father whose son had been murdered by a man who was on Virginia's
death row
Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting executio ...
; the father expressed doubt that the sentence would be carried out if Kaine were elected and alleged that Kaine would not even have authorized the execution of
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
, based on an interview with the ''
Richmond Times-Dispatch
The ''Richmond Times-Dispatch'' (''RTD'' or ''TD'' for short) is the primary daily newspaper in Richmond, Virginia, and the primary newspaper of record for the state of Virginia.
Circulation
The ''Times-Dispatch'' has the second-highest circul ...
''. The negative reaction to the mention of Hitler combined with Kaine's pledge to carry out the death penalty and explanation of his personal opposition as arising from his
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
faith helped to neutralize what many observers thought would've been a potent issue for Kilgore. Kaine's campaign also ran an ad entitled "Wrong" quoting many Virginia newspapers in their condemnation of Kilgore and his campaign ads which stated (all caps emphasis) "All these newspapers can't be WRONG: 'Jerry Kilgore's ads are a VILE attempt to manipulate for political gain. . . they TWIST the truth. . . and SMEAR Tim Kaine. . . Kilgore's attacks are DISHONEST. . . FALSELY accuse Kaine. . . and TAR a decent man. . . Kilgore CROSSED the line. . . DRAGGING Kaine's beliefs through the mud. . . Jerry Kilgore should APOLOGIZE to Tim Kaine.'"
In trying to explain how a solid Republican could lose a traditionally Republican state by such a large margin, political commentators cited numerous key factors. Kaine's campaign had many political advantages, including his association with the state's popular Democratic Governor
Mark Warner
Mark Robert Warner (born December 15, 1954) is an American businessman and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Virginia, a seat he has held since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, Warner served as the 69th gove ...
and defense of Warner's 2004 budget priorities, his "response ads" to Kilgore's death penalty advertisements where he spoke to voters about his religious convictions and as mentioned above, reminded them about how a large cross-section of Virginia media strongly condemned Kilgore for his negative death penalty ads, his relentless in-person campaigning across the state, and his opposition to tax increases. Experienced attorney Lawrence Roberts served as Kaine's campaign chairman.
Kaine provides Clinton ticket with more lobbying, fundraising ties – UPI.com
/ref> In contrast, Kilgore's campaign had many political disadvantages, including a backlash over the death penalty
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...
ads that Kilgore's campaign ran in the fall, the relatively low poll numbers of then-President George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
at the time of the election, and a bitter division between the moderate and conservative wings of the Republican Party over tax and spending priorities.
Debates
Complete video of first debate
September 13, 2005
Complete video of second debate
October 9, 2005
Predictions
Polling
Results
Results by county and Independent city
Counties and Independent Cities that flipped from Republican to Democratic
* James City (no municipalities)
* Rappahannock (largest city: Washington
Washington most commonly refers to:
* George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States
* Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A ...
)
* Virginia Beach
Virginia Beach (colloquially VB) is the List of cities in Virginia, most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. The city is located on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in southeaster ...
(independent city)
* Chesapeake (independent city)
* Harrisonburg (independent city)
* Prince William
William, Prince of Wales (William Arthur Philip Louis; born 21 June 1982), is the heir apparent to the British throne. He is the elder son of King Charles III and Diana, Princess of Wales.
William was born during the reign of his p ...
(largest borough: Manassas
Manassas (), formerly Manassas Junction, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. The population was 42,772 at the 2020 Census. It is the county seat of Prince William County, although the two are separate jurisdi ...
)
* Staunton (independent city)
* Loudoun
Loudoun () is a parish in East Ayrshire, Scotland and lies between five and ten miles east of Kilmarnock. The parish roughly encompasses the northern half of the Upper-Irvine Valley and borders Galston parish, Galston Parish (which encompasses ...
(largest borough: Leesburg)
* Fluvanna (largest borough: Lake Monticello)
Counties and Independent Cities that flipped from Democratic to Republican
* Appomattox (Largest city: Appomattox)
* Amherst (Largest city: Amherst)
*Bath
Bath may refer to:
* Bathing, immersion in a fluid
** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body
** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe
* Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities
Plac ...
(Largest city: Hot Springs
A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a Spring (hydrology), spring produced by the emergence of Geothermal activity, geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow ...
)
*Buckingham
Buckingham ( ) is a market town in north Buckinghamshire, England, close to the borders of Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire, which had a population of 12,890 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census. The town lies approximately west of ...
(Largest city: Dillwyn)
* Charlotte (Largest city: Keysville)
* Craig (Largest city: New Castle)
*Cumberland
Cumberland ( ) is an area of North West England which was historically a county. The county was bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish ...
(Largest city: Farmville
''FarmVille'' is a series of agriculture-simulation social network games developed and published by Zynga in 2009. It is similar to '' Happy Farm'' and ''Farm Town''. Its gameplay involves various aspects of farmland management, such as plo ...
)
* Dickenson (largest borough: Clintwood)
* Dinwiddie (Largest town: McKenney
McKenney is an incorporated town in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, United States. The population was 483 at the 2010 census.
History
McKenney is located along a former railroad mainline. The Richmond, Petersburg and Carolina Railroad, passing throu ...
)
*Essex
Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...
(Largest city: Tappahannock)
* Emporia (Independent city)
* Franklin (Largest city: Rocky Mount)
* Halifax (Largest city: South Boston
South Boston (colloquially known as Southie) is a densely populated neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, located south and east of the Fort Point Channel and abutting Dorchester Bay (Boston Harbor), Dorchester Bay. It has under ...
)
* Hopewell (independent city)
*Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...
(Largest city: Smithfield)
* Norton (independent city)
* Salem (independent city)
* Louisa (Largest city: Louisa)
* Lunenburg (Largest city: Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India
* Victoria (state), a state of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital
* Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...
)
*Lee
Lee may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Lee'' (2007 film), Tamil-language sports action film
* ''Lee'' (2017 film), Kannada-language action film
* ''Lee'' (2023 film), biographical drama about Lee Miller, American photojournalist
* ''L ...
(Largest city: Pennington Gap)
*Northumberland
Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...
(Largest city: Heathsville)
* Pulaski (Largest city: Pulaski)
* Russell (largest municipality: Lebanon
Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...
)
* Rockbridge (Largest city: Lexington)
*Smyth
Smyth is an early variant of the common surname Smith (surname), Smith commonly found in Ireland.Citation: Bardsley, 1901 Shown below are notable people who share the surname "Smyth".
Notable people sharing the Smyth surname
Listed here are peop ...
(Largest city: Marion Marion or MARION may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
*Marion (band), a British alternative rock group
* ''Marion'' (miniseries), a 1974 miniseries
* ''Marion'' (1920 film), an Italian silent film
* ''Marion'' (2024 film), a UK short
People a ...
)
* Tazewell (Largest city: Richlands)
* Wise (Largest city: Big Stone Gap)
See also
*Commonwealth of Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
* List of governors of Virginia
References
External links
Official Results
Virginia State Board of Elections
Official campaign websites (Archived)
Tim Kaine
Jerry Kilgore
Russ Potts
{{Tim Kaine
Gubernatorial
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...
2005
2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
Tim Kaine
November 2005 in the United States