Gilmore: Senate GOP nomination all but a lock

Former Gov. Jim Gilmore’s campaign claimed this week that enough delegates pledged to Gilmore have been elected to the Republican state nominating convention to guarantee him the nod to run for the U.S. Senate.

Convention delegates are being chosen across the state at locality mass meetings or caucuses. The meetings began in late February and will end early next month.

A solid turnout of the Gilmore delegates will be needed to seal victory at the convention, said campaign political director Matt Wells. The convention will be in Richmond at the end of May.

Gilmore’s chief rival for the nomination, Del. Robert G. Marshall of Prince William County, disputed the claim.

“He’s trying to suppress turnout,“ said Steve Waters, Marshall’s campaign manager. “He in no way has it locked up.“

Waters said Marshall has won significant victories throughout Northern Virginia and that the race is close.

Wells said Gilmore has won more than 6,000 delegate votes elected at the mass meetings or caucuses held so far. For the nomination, 5,260 votes are needed.

About 2,400 delegates have been elected to date, or more than 75 percent of the total, Wells added. Because the delegate totals are short of the votes needed, many of the delegate votes will count as more than one vote under party rules.

A third candidate, Robert D. “Bob” Berry of Springfield, also is seeking the nomination but has made little headway.

The convention will be held May 30-31 at the Greater Richmond Convention Center. The Republican nominee will face Mark R. Warner, who succeeded Gilmore as Virginia governor in 2001.

The winner will take the seat of Republican Sen. John W. Warner, who is retiring after 30 years. The two Warners are not related. Gilmore was governor from 1998 to 2002. Marshall has served in the House of Delegates since 1992.

Tyler Whitley is a staff writer for the Richmond Times-Dispatch.