While the Republicans' historic takeover of the General Assembly in Tuesday's elections is not only an unprecedented win for the party, it also may bring out factional divisions within the GOP.
Charlottesville Republican Party Chairman Dale McGlothlin said the first issue before the new Republican majority in the General Assembly will be the election of the Speaker of the House, who will make committee assignments. Frontrunners for the job are Del. S. Vance Wilkins Jr. (R-24th) and Del. John H. Rust Jr. (R-37th), McGlothlin said.
The Speaker now will be able to appoint more Republicans to committees, he said. Because there were 49 Republicans, 50 Democrats and one Independent in the House of Delegates before this election, the House been operating under an agreement that gave Republicans and Democrats co-chairmanships and equal membership on committees.
"We don't have the power-sharing agreement [with the Democrats] now," McGlothlin said.
Georgetown University Government Prof. G. Patrick Lynch said the Republican majority probably will continue Gilmore's current policies, including tax cuts and trying to create "a more healthy climate for business."
Republicans would push for the same types of policies as before, but at a much faster rate, McGlothlin said.
But Craig Brians, Virginia Tech political science professor, said the Republican majority might not be the boon for which Gilmore was hoping.
"By my vantage point, [Gilmore] seems to be fairly far to the right," Brians said.
Catholic University Politics Prof. Mark Rozell agreed that internal Republican divisions may be problematic.
"I advise people to resist making assumptions about single-party control" or that the General Assembly will be "a Republican Party love fest," Rozell said. "The Republican Party is full of factions that fight with each other."
He said this year's election results do not indicate that Democrats cannot recover from their losses.
"In other [southern] states, the Democrats have recovered, realigned their support with certain groups, including African-American" voters, he added.
Despite the potential for internal friction, one issue the Republican majority has been hoping to control is the redrawing of congressional districts, which happens every 10 years, Brians said.
The last time the Virginia districts were redrawn in 1990, the Democrats were in control, and "a lot of potentially Republican seats were sacrificed," he said.
In 2000, the Republicans will apportion the congressional districts to help their incumbents, Lynch said.
McGlothlin agreed, saying, "we will probably do the same thing as the Democrats did" when they were in control.
He said Charlottesville's traditional Democratic tendencies will make it "a thorn in everyone's side" in the redistricting effort. Charlottesville "is a very liberal metro area -- university towns tend to be that way," he added. "The largest employer in Charlottesville is the government, and people who work for the government are more liberal."
Larry J. Sabato, government and foreign affairs professor, said voter turnout in the Charlottesville area was above the statewide average. "People take their citizenship seriously here," Sabato said.
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