Va. GOP rebuffs Senate primary

RICHMOND, VA. â€”  Virginia Republicans will hold a convention instead of a primary to choose their candidate to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. John W. Warner, upsetting critics who say it makes the party appear closed off.

The state party’s central committee voted 47 to 37 on Saturday in favor of a convention. No date or location was decided.

Former Gov. Jim Gilmore and U.S. Rep. Thomas M. Davis III have expressed interest in seeking the GOP nomination. Supporters of Gilmore wanted a convention, and Davis backers had argued for a primary.

Warner, 80, said in August that he would not seek a sixth consecutive Senate term next year. Two weeks later, Democrat Mark R. Warner, a former governor, who is not related to the senator, announced his candidacy for the seat.

Supporters of a convention argued that it’s more economical and that the party would avoid a divisive public squabble between GOP rivals in a primary.

“Mark Warner’s already got a 60% approval rating. We have to go up against that. We cannot have that and air our dirty laundry, so we have to keep it in-house,� Bruce Meyer, chairman for the GOP’s 2nd Congressional District, told the committee.

Other convention supporters argued that with a primary, Democrats would be free to meddle in the GOP nomination process because Virginia did not require party registration and opened primaries to all voters.

Advocates of a primary argued that a convention makes the party look insular when it most needs to involve hundreds of thousands of voters, not just the few thousand who can fit into a meeting hall.

A primary builds precinct-by-precinct organizations faster and prepares activists and candidates for the door-to-door campaigning required in the fall, said David Avella, GOP chairman of the 8th Congressional District.