Less noticed than the stunning nomination of black clergyman E.W. Jackson for lieutenant governor by Virginian Republicans on Saturday was the selection of state Sen. Mark Obenshain for state attorney general.
By a margin of some 55 percent to 45 per cent, the state convention picked the conservative Obenshain as their nominee to succeed outgoing attorney general, and nominee for governor, Ken Cuccinelli.
Obenshain is the son of the still-revered Richard Obenshain, state GOP chairman in the 1960s and 1970s who is considered the father of the modern Republican Party in the Old Dominion.
The elder Obsenshain won nomination for the U.S. Senate in 1978, but was killed just two weeks later in a plane crash. Mark's mother Helen was later Republican national committeewoman and his sister Kate was state party chairman and a Fox TV news commentator.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.