Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 16, 1994 TAG: 9410180039
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Cupp, like Radford clothier Gary Weddle and lawyer Jimmy Turk, said he's considering making a bid for the Republican nomination. But he will not decide until after the U.S. Senate and congressional elections next month.
Marye, 68, will be up for re-election next year. He is out of the country and has not said whether he will seek a sixth term representing Montgomery, Smyth and Grayson counties and parts of Pulaski and Carroll counties.
Another potential Republican contender, Montgomery Board of Supervisors Chairman Larry Linkous, said Saturday he would not seek the Senate nomination. Instead, he is considering a challenge to freshman Del. Jim Shuler, D-Blacksburg.
Shuler said Saturday that he was planning on running for re-election, and if "Larry chooses to run, that's fine."
Shuler said he backed Linkous' run for the Board of Supervisors in 1991, which was before Linkous changed parties.
Cupp, a 54-year-old Blacksburg developer and real estate broker, said he made the announcement to try to keep Republicans focused on next month's election and to stop the speculation spurred by recent news stories about Weddle and Turk.
Weddle has made no secret of his intentions since forming an exploratory committee in January. Turk has made no formal announcement but has hired a recent college graduate to work on his nascent campaign. Turk is the son of U.S. District Judge James Turk, who held the same state Senate seat from 1960 until he assumed the bench in 1972. Marye won the seat in a 1973 special election after the late John Dalton left it to become lieutenant governor, and, later, governor.
Cupp has been chairman of the Montgomery Republican Committee since spring and said he would resign that post should he formally enter the state Senate race. He narrowly lost the GOP nomination to run for the Blacksburg-area House of Delegates seat last year to Montgomery County Supervisor Nick Rush, who lost in the general election to Shuler.
Cupp was born in Ironto, in Montgomery County, and grew up in Narrows. He graduated from Virginia Tech and has been in the real estate and property management business in the New River Valley for 30 years.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB