University of Virginia Library

Robinson Wins

Republican State Senator J. Kenneth
Robinson took the seventh district seat from
the Democrats, making the seventh a
Republican seat for the first time in modern
times.

Mr. Robinson, who shares political
philosophies with Senator Byrd, was elected by
more than 20,000 votes over Democrat Mural
Williams, a former U.S. Ambassador and
University student.

In addition to backing Mr. Garland,
Governor Linwood Holton was instrumental in
Jay Harvie Wilkinson's race against Democrat
David Satterfield in the third district. Several
Republicans, apparently bitter over the loss,
blamed President Nixon for Mr. Garland's
dismal showing, in that the Administration
refused to campaign for or support the Garland
effort.

The easy passage of the Constitutional
referendum was labeled as "a great victory for
all Virginians, not only Virginians of today but
for those of the future as well." The revisions
could lead to some gambling and parimutuel
betting on horse and dog races, but such
changes as well as any affecting the issuance of
general obligation and revenue bonds, still rest
with the General Assembly.

The voters returned nine of the State's ten
incumbent congressmen to office. The
remaining one, Democrat John O. Marsh Jr. of
the seventh district, had chosen not to run.