The 1970 United States Senate election in Virginia was held on November 3, 1970. Incumbent senator Harry F. Byrd Jr. was re-elected to a second term (and first full term) in office over state delegates George Rawlings and Ray L. Garland. Byrd left the Democratic Party shortly before the election and became the first non-Democrat to represent Virginia in the Senate since 1889.
Byrd won large margins throughout the commonwealth, except for the historic "anti-organization" coal union strongholds in the southwest and a few heavily African American counties in the Tidewater region.
Background
In 1966, Harry F. Byrd Jr. was elected to complete the unexpired term of his father, Harry F. Byrd.
Since the 1890s, Byrd Jr. and his father had led a rural, conservative Democratic Party political machine (known as the Byrd machine) which had come to dominate Virginia politics. However, the machine's grip had weakened dramatically over the prior decade, beginning with the failure of its policy of "massive resistance" to school desegregation in the 1950s. After the failure of massive resistance, the party was divided into factions of conservative loyalists, moderates, and liberals led by Henry Howell. A fourth faction of more extreme conservatives were angered by the party's subsequent support for Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1964 presidential election and formed the Conservative Party, advising members to abstain from participation in Democratic primary elections. As a result of these fissures, long-time Byrd machine incumbents A. Willis Robertson and Howard W. Smith both lost in the 1966 Democratic primary, and Byrd Jr. narrowly survived a primary challenge from moderate Armistead L. Boothe, signalling the end of the machine's domination.
The decline of the Byrd machine and divisions within the Democratic Party created ample opportunities for the Republican Party of Virginia. Entering 1970, Republicans had carried the state at the presidential level in four of the five preceding elections, and in 1969, Virginia had elected Linwood Holton to serve as the first Republican governor since the Reconstruction era. However, the Republicans were also divided into two rival factions: the historical, progressive base of the party, based in mountainous western Virginia, from which Holton had led opposition to the Byrd machine, and a growing conservative eastern faction, based in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. and Richmond. Many conservative Republicans admired Byrd and preferred to build the party up by winning flipping conservative seats which liberals had won in the Democratic primaries. Holton won the 1969 election with an unusual combination of support from three traditionally Democratic groups in Virginia: conservative financial and business interests, organized labor, and African Americans.
In 1969, President Richard Nixon and his southern aide Harry S. Dent Sr. actively recruited Senator Byrd to switch parties, using the codeword "Okinawa" as part of his larger "southern strategy" in the 1970 midterm elections. In October, Byrd commissioned a poll which showed him holding narrow leads in the Democratic primary and general election, indicating a significant risk to running for the nomination of his increasingly liberal and racially diverse party. After Holton's victory in the fall elections, the governor-elect met with Nixon aide Bryce Harlow. Although Holton preferred to support his law partner, state delegate M. Caldwell Butler, in the upcoming Senate election, Holton also admitted that he had attempted to recruit Byrd Jr. to switch parties on "at least three occasions," but had not received a response. A more detailed poll commissioned by Byrd in January 1970 showed him trailing Henry Howell by four points among Democratic voters. On March 17, 1970, Byrd announced that he would run as an "Independent Democrat."
Democratic primary
Candidates
Clive L. DuVal II, state delegate from McLean George C. Rawlings Jr. former state delegate from Fredericksburg and candidate for U.S. House in 1966
Declined
Harry F. Byrd Jr., incumbent U.S. senator since 1966 (ran as independent) Henry Howell, state senator from Norfolk J. Sargeant Reynolds, lieutenant governor of Virginia
Campaign Two of the leading contenders to challenge Byrd, Henry Howell and J. Sargeant Reynolds, declined early in the race. Reynolds, the popular lieutenant governor, As a result, Larry Sabato has described the July primary as "the most apathetic state election in Virginia's recent history." Rawlings, who had defeated Howard W. Smith in the 1966 primary but lost to William L. Scott in the general election, ran as a proponent of the New Frontier and Great Society programs.
Results Fewer than 130,000 voters turned out, and Rawlins defeated DuVal by only 700 votes. The low turnout was taken as a sign that many Democratic voters still supported Byrd.
Republican primary
Candidates
Ray L. Garland, state delegate from Roanoke
Declined
Harry F. Byrd Jr., incumbent U.S. senator since 1966 (ran as independent)
Campaign Following Byrd's decision to run as an independent, Holton and other Republican leaders declined to support his candidacy, seeking instead to nominate a Republican as an opponent.
On April 1, Holton posited that Byrd could not be reelected as an independent and would not get the support of the Republicans unless he formally joined the party and sought its nomination. Holton also pressed Byrd to embrace Nixon's position that Brown v. Board of Education "was right in both constitutional and human terms." Holton also met with Republican congressional leadership in April to emphasize his position in favor of nominating a Republican senatorial candidate in 1970 and received their support.
On April 23, Holton met with Nixon to discuss the matter. Holton, Nixon, and Dent later disagreed over the course of the meeting, with Nixon and Dent assuming that Holton had agreed not to nominate a candidate, and Holton believing that Nixon had agreed to invite Byrd to join the Republican Party. On the same day, a group of conservative financiers who had supported Holton in the 1969 election pressured Byrd to join the Republican Party; he refused to switch parties, but he agreed to drop the word "Democrat" from his party identification, running as just an "Independent." When the Nixon administration made the same request for a party switch, Byrd refused again, telling Bryce Harlow, "I'm going to run as an independent, and I'm going to be elected as an independent." Byrd formally filed to run as an independent on June 15, ending speculation that he would switch parties.
Convention results With their state convention in late June rapidly approaching, Republicans considered whether to endorse Byrd, remain neutral, or nominate a candidate of their own. Joel Broyhill and Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee chair Lee R. Nunn briefly led efforts for a Byrd endorsement, but they instead settled on a strategy favoring neutrality. On the eve of the convention, Holton delivered a rousing speech in favor of nominating a candidate against Byrd. "Frankly, I can't believe it," Holton told the delegates. "We're the biggest, strongest, and the best party in Virginia. ... I can't believe we'll do nothing. Doing nothing would be like having the biggest, shiniest, newest fire engine and not taking it to a fire." Broyhill and other Byrd supporters conceded that the speech was effective, and throughout the next day, Holton met with delegates to urge a nomination.
At the start of proceedings, Broyhill made a political gaffe when he claimed Byrd would, in exchange for an endorsement or neutrality, vote with the Republicans to organize the next Senate. His comment prompted a public disavowal from Byrd, who issued a statement maintaining that he had made "no commitments to anyone." When Broyhill ultimately moved for no nomination for United States Senate, the resolution was defeated by over 200 votes. The convention nominated Ray L. Garland, a little-known legislator whom Holton had recruited from his own home city of Roanoke.
General election Candidates Harry F. Byrd Jr., incumbent U.S. senator since 1966 (Independent) Ray L. Garland, state delegate from Roanoke (Republican) George C. Rawlings Jr. former state delegate from Fredericksburg (Democratic)
Campaign While Byrd preferred a two-way race, early polling indicated that the presence of candidates from both major parties split the anti-Byrd vote rather than the pro-Byrd vote. The Holton coalition quickly disintegrated. Byrd recovered the conservative financial and business interests which had backed Holton in 1969, while the liberal Crusade for Voters and AFL-CIO endorsed the Democratic candidate Rawlings. Garland faded rapidly into third place.
Court-ordered desegregation busing was an issue in the campaign, following a July ruling by Robert R. Merhige Jr. which called for the busing of 13,000 students in the city of Richmond. Holton not only complied with the order but accompanied his thirteen-year-old daughter to predominantly black John F. Kennedy High School while his wife took their other children to a middle school in which they were the only white students. The act outraged conservatives, whose anger was transferred to Garland. Garland stressed his opposition to busing, an issue where Byrd was already the leading candidate for conservatives, further limiting Garland's potential support.
Although Nixon did not formally endorse Byrd, he embraced a position of "benevolent neutrality," inviting Byrd to a meeting to discuss the administration's Family Assistance Plan and a state dinner for the president of Mexico. When vice president Spiro Agnew endorsed Garland on October 26, the White House quickly pressured Agnew to call Byrd and apologize. Agnew promised not to mention the Virginia campaign again. Holton and other Republicans were publicly critical of Nixon, arguing that the national party was "seriously hurting our efforts to build a strong Republican Party in Virginia," noting that the strategy would discourage conservatives from joining the Republican Party by offering the option of switching their support from candidate to candidate in various campaigns.
Results Byrd won an easy victory; the turnout for this election was the largest in Virginia senatorial election history at the time.
Results by county or independent city