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depth of the split in the party became apparent.
Local conservative Republicans, led by Peachee, Hurd and others, formed an independent group supporting Jones’ ultraconservative Democratic opponent, N. Leslie Saunders Jr. of Richmond, for the post.
Saunders won, and the shattering split within the local GOP was complete. Its divisive fallout continues, and its impact on the upcoming races for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general is a source of major concern to GOP strategists.
The departure of 8th District Congressman Stanford Parris from the race for the GOP gubernatorial nomination has merely increased the disaffection of many heretofore rockribbed Republicans. Parris had been the rallying point for many who opposed and resented what they saw as the “machinations” of the Peachee faction of the party.
That the split should come in the 3rd District is especially disturbing. Chesterfield County, which is the center of the controversy, is now the home of former Fairfax Del. Wyatt Durrette, who, since the Parris withdrawal, is the unopposed Republican candidate for governor. Durrette moved to the county from Fairfax several years ago in order to establish a more central base for his campaign.
But Durrette, like Russell, is also a close associate of Peachee, and as such he has earned the deep distrust of many of her opponents. Indeed, that distrust runs so deeply in some circles that there are dark mutterings that many may defect and, in the privacy of their voting booths, quietly pull the lever for Durrette’s apparent Democratic opponent, Attorney General Gerald Baliles.
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