Over 600 elected officials endorse Mark Warner

October 2nd, 2008 | Riki Parikh

Our campaign today announced the endorsements of over 600 locally elected officials from across the Commonwealth, an unprecedented amount of support from nearly every region of Virginia. Nearly half of them are Republicans and Independents who are members of Virginians for Warner.

To view all of the endorsements from elected officials across Virginia, click here.

At events today in Richmond, Harrisonburg, and Roanoke, Governor Warner was joined with current and former Republican and Independent leaders, including Sen. Russ Potts, Sen. John H. Chichester and Del. Vincent F. Callahan Jr.

They are all members of Virginians for Warner, a coalition of Republicans and Independents who are crossing party lines to support Mark Warner for the U.S. Senate. Other members include former Republican Governor Linwood Holton and more than a dozen former Republican state lawmakers, including Del. Bob Bloxom (Accomack), Del. Hank Lampe (Arlington), Sen. Ed Robb (Albemarle), Del. Jim Dillard (Fairfax), Del. Panny Rhodes (Henrico), Del. Preston Bryant (Lynchburg), Del. Jack Rollison (Prince William), Del. Katherine Waddell (Richmond), Del. Clint Miller (Shenandoah), Del. Pete Giesen (Staunton), and Sen. Russ Potts (Winchester).

One of the most compelling endorsements came this morning from Don Upson, who served as Virginia’s first Secretary of Technology from 1998-2002 and the current president of ICG Government, a technology firm. Here’s what he said:

We stopped at Jess’ in Harrisonburg and were met by a good group of supporters with signs that said “Republicans for Warner”:

After the endorsements, we stopped and ate lunch.

In Roanoke, we were greeted by nearly 50 supporters at the brand new Claude Moore Education Complex. He was introduced by David Carson, the Republican chairman of the Roanoke School Board. Carson told the Roanoke Times:

“To me, he’s a guy that has a good track record. I appreciate what he did,” Carson said of Warner in an interview after the event. “In a nutshell, he seems like a guy who’s gotten stuff done, and that’s what we need.”