Background
The 1900s had seen Virginia, like all former Confederate States, almost completely disenfranchise its black and poor white populations through the use of a cumulative poll tax and literacy tests. [2] So severe was the disenfranchising effect of the new 1902 Constitution that it has been calculated that a third of those who voted were state employees and officeholders. [2]
This limited electorate meant Virginian politics was controlled by political machines based in Southside Virginia – firstly one led by Thomas Staples Martin and after he died the Byrd Organization. Progressive "antiorganization" factions were rendered impotent by the inability of almost all their potential electorate to vote. [3] Unlike the Deep South, historical fusion with the “Readjuster” Democrats, [4] defection of substantial proportions of the Northeast-aligned white electorate of the Shenandoah Valley and Southwest Virginia over free silver, [5] and an early move towards a "lily white" Jim Crow party [4] meant Republicans retained a small but permanent number of legislative seats and local offices in the western part of the state. [6] However, in many areas – like in Tennessee during the same era – the parties avoided competition by an agreed division over local offices, [3] and in gubernatorial elections the Republican vote after Byrd came to power became mostly in the nature of a protest, with turnout in most elections higher in the Democratic primary than the general election. [7]
New Deal challenge
In the first term after FDR's landslide 1932 election triumph, the now-established Byrd Organization had maintained firm control under Governor Peery, [1] while Senator Byrd was already opposing many New Deal measures. [8] Governor Peery would aim to combat the Depression using the traditional method of cutting spending, and opposed Roosevelt's Federal Emergency Relief Administration. [9]
As early as June 1935, Lieutenant Governor Price announced he would be seeking the governorship in 1937. [10] During most of 1936, Price would travel throughout the state seeking support, [11] and by the time of the 1936 presidential election, it was clear that the Byrd Organization, who had supported FDR for re-election despite opposing the policies and philosophy of the New Deal, would not oppose Price, [12] who was seen as "anti-organization" despite saying he supported Byrd's conservative economic policies. [13]
Until Vivian L. Page withdrew from the lieutenant gubernatorial primary late in April, [14] Price had no opponent in the primary. Page would campaign against Price on the basis that the latter was trying to "buy" votes, [15] and to mislead the voters at a time when internal polling predicted a landslide for Price. [16]
As it turned out, the primary was a landslide for Price, who defeated Page by a margin of more than six-to-one, and in the general election Price defeated Republican J. Powell Royall by nearly so large a margin in a rematch of the 1933 lieutenant gubernatorial contest. Royall's performance is the worst by a Republican gubernatorial candidate in Virginia, losing all but two counties or cites, and this is the last time Floyd County has backed a Democrat for Governor.
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