Virginia GOP Nominates Black Businessman to Run for Senate
Maurice Dawkins, a businessman and former Democrat, won the Republican nomination Saturday to run for a U.S. Senate seat against former Democratic Gov. Charles S. Robb.
Dawkins, 67, is the first black to run for the Senate from Virginia since Reconstruction.
He won a first-ballot nomination over two rivals after promising to “put an end to the era of Chuck Robb” in a fiery address at the state GOP convention.
Dawkins and Robb will square off for the seat currently held by Republican Paul S. Trible Jr., who is not seeking reelection.
Dawkins, a lobbyist and retired minister who lives in the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, switched to the GOP after Sen. George S. McGovern won the Democratic presidential nomination in 1972.
Robb is considered a huge favorite to win the seat. He won the governorship by a fairly narrow margin in 1981 but left office highly popular four years later. Virginia does not allow governors to serve consecutive terms.
Robb, a lawyer and former Marine who served in Vietnam, is married to Lynda Bird Johnson, daughter of former President Lyndon B. Johnson.
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