 | |||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 49.8% (voting eligible) [1] | ||||||||||||||||
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  Robb: 50-60% 60-70% 70-80% 80-90% >90% Dawkins: 50-60% 60-70% No votes | |||||||||||||||||
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| Elections in Virginia |
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The 1988 United States Senate election in Virginia was held on November 8, 1988. Democratic former governor Chuck Robb succeeded Republican Senator Paul Trible, who opted not to run for re-election. As of 2024 [update] , this is the last time a Democratic Senatorial candidate won every county and independent city in Virginia.
Paul Trible announced that he would not seek reelection in September 1987, citing frustration with the legislative process and wanting to spend more time with his family. [2]
Maurice Dawkins, a Baptist minister, defeated Andrew Wahlquist, a former assistant to U.S. Senator John Warner, on the first ballot of the Republican convention. Dawkins was the first black person nominated for a senatorial election in the state by a major party. [2]
Chuck Robb won the Democratic nomination without opposition at the convention held between June 3 to 4. [2]
Robb's campaign raised $3.2 million and spent $2.8 million during the campaign. Dawkins spent $300,000 during the campaign which was less than every incumbent running with opposition in the concurrent U.S. House of Representatives elections. [3]
Robb placed first in all of Virginia's congressional districts. The third, fifth, and seventh congressional districts were the only districts that Dawkins received more than 30% of the vote in. [4] Robb received around 70% of the white vote while the overall composition of his voters were 78% white and 12% black compared to Dawkin's 94% white and 6% black. Robb is one of the few Democrats to have won a majority of the white vote after 1969. [5]
Robb's victory was the best performance for a Democratic senatorial candidate in Virginia since A. Willis Robertson in 1960.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Chuck Robb | 1,474,086 | 71.25% | +22.45% | |
| Republican | Maurice A. Dawkins | 593,652 | 28.69% | -22.51% | |
| Write-ins | 1,159 | 0.06% | |||
| Majority | 880,434 | 42.56% | +40.18% | ||
| Turnout | 2,068,897 | ||||
| Democratic gain from Republican | Swing | ||||
In American politics, the Southern strategy was a Republican Party electoral strategy to increase political support among white voters in the South by appealing to racism against African Americans. As the civil rights movement and dismantling of Jim Crow laws in the 1950s and 1960s visibly deepened existing racial tensions in much of the Southern United States, Republican politicians such as presidential candidate Richard Nixon and Senator Barry Goldwater developed strategies that successfully contributed to the political realignment of many white, conservative voters in the South who had traditionally supported the Democratic Party. It also helped to push the Republican Party much more to the right relative to the 1950s. By winning all of the South a presidential candidate could obtain the presidency with minimal support elsewhere.
Charles Spittal Robb is an American former U.S. Marine Corps officer and politician who served as the 64th governor of Virginia from 1982 to 1986 and a United States senator representing Virginia from 1989 until 2001. A member of the Democratic Party, Robb sought a third term in the U.S. Senate in 2000, but was defeated by Republican George Allen, another former governor.
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