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It probably hasn’t dawned on 99 percent of the voters yet, but a brand new factor has been quietly introduced into the statewide political races this year.
That factor is the near certainty that the chief executive elected in 1989 will be able to run for re-election in 1993. He or she would be the first governor in modern Virginia history to be able to do so. Obviously the candidates in this year’s elections for lieutenant governor and attorney general would be prime spots for such a historic first, as would other potential candidates considering the race.
Indeed, until the Constitution of 1851, the governor was elected by the General Assembly. In the Constitution of that year, however, it was provided that he be elected by the people. His term was set at four years without immediate succession. He could, however, run a second time provided there was an intervening term by someone else.
Only two governors since the 1851 Constitution have held office a second time. The first was Gov. William “Extra Billy” Smith, who was elected first by the legislature in 1845 for a three-year term. In 1861 he won a second term and it became iiis duty to preside over the state during the closing days of the Civil War.
In 1965 Gov. Mills E. Godwin Jr., then a Democrat, won his first term. Following the administration qf Gov. Linwood Holton, Godwin was elected to another term in 1973, this time as a Republican.
There has been intermittent talk for decades about changing the ground rules for gubernatorial service in the state. Proposals were made, and rejected, by the commission studying the 1971 constitutional revision which would have allowed two consecutive terms. There has also been sentiment for a single six-year term. None of those proposals, until now have gotten any place.
But the 1985 General Assembly took the initial historic step. It passed, for the first time, a constitutional revision resolution which would permit an incumbent governor to run for a second term. The resolution limits the governor to two terms and will become effective for the chief executive elected in 1989.
The process of amending the Constitution is as follows. The amending resolution must be passed, as this one has been, by both houses of the legislature. Then it must be passed a second time in identical form by a second session with an election of the House of Delegates intervening. Thus, because 1985 is an election
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