Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 8, 1995 TAG: 9511080035
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A10 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT LENGTH: Medium
So were the party's spirits.
Working the phones and the computer databases like mad, Del. Allen Dudley's son A.J. and GOP Chairman Carthan Currin realized early in the evening that Dudley had become the first Republican legislative candidate to win the county in decades.
The Rocky Mount banker was declared a winner over Democratic challenger Claude Whitehead of Pittsylvania County a short time later.
At 9:45 p.m., Dudley walked hand-in-hand with his wife into a conference room of cheering supporters inside the motel.
"Floyd County came through again," he said. "So did Moneta. And so did Franklin County. Pittsylvania County didn't come through as good, but they've got to live with Claude Whitehead and we don't!''
Dudley said Whitehead's campaign was nothing but "trash and negative comments."
"We ran a campaign that talked about our record," he said.
Dudley then handed a dozen red roses to his wife, Virginia, whom he called "the hardest worker I had."
From the start of the campaign, Democrats and Republicans pegged Franklin County as the key to winning the 9th House District.
Dudley lost Franklin County when he upset Democrat Wes Naff for the House seat two years ago. But Dudley won by picking up votes in the others areas of the district - Floyd County, a slice of Pittsylvania County and the Moneta precinct in Bedford County.
To Dudley's campaign team, the plan was simple this year. If Dudley could win his home county - which includes more than 50 percent of the district's voters - he'd be hard to beat.
That's the way it played out Tuesday.
In some parts of Franklin County, Dudley's turnaround from 1993 was startling. In Endicott, Dudley got only 29 percent of the vote against Naff. Tuesday, that total jumped to 71 percent.
The question about whether Franklin County residents would vote for the hometown boy or stick to the Democratic line was answered. Not only did Franklin voters re-elect Dudley, they also ousted three Democratic incumbents on the county Board of Supervisors.
The licking was so sound that the parking lot of Jerry's Steakhouse, where Democrats traditionally hold election night victory parties, was empty by 10 p.m.
"There's been a major power shift here in the county, and it's unprecedented," said Currin, the county Republican chairman, as he puffed on a cigar.
Many voters leaving the county polls Tuesday confirmed that Dudley's Franklin County roots affected their decision.
Rocky Mount voter Patty Sink said of Dudley, "He's from around here."
The most popular politician in Franklin County, state Sen. Virgil Goode, D-Rocky Mount, also sent a telling message to county voters when he refused to publicly endorse Whitehead during the campaign.
Whitehead could not be reached for comment Tuesday night.
Keywords:
ELECTION
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.