
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 8, 1995                   TAG: 9511080051
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A10   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

VA. HOUSE WILL GET AT LEAST 8 NEW MEMBERS

Among the new members of the House of Delegates elected Tuesday are a sheriff, a city council member, a former congressional aide, a former state cabinet official, a real estate agent and three lawyers.

Four are Republicans, and four are Democrats. Six won open seats, all of the same party as the departing incumbent. One Democratic seat went Republican, and one GOP seat switched back to the Democrats.

The new members:

Democrat John Tate took Southwest Virginia's 5th District seat won by Republican Barnes Lee Kidd won from a Democrat just two years ago. Tate, 57, is a Marion lawyer.

Republican Preston Bryant Jr., Lynchburg City Council member and a marketing director, defeated Democrat Gilliam Cobbs, a marketing consultant and former city councilman, to win in the 23rd District. seat left open by Republican Del. Steve Newman's election to the Senate. Bryant, 31, supported Gov. George Allen's plans to let localities decide how to spend lottery profits and to step up prison construction.

Republican Steve Landes, a former aide to Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke, beat Democrat Harry Nash, a 56-year-old Waynesboro insurance agent and farmer, in the 25th District. Landes, 35, will take the seat vacated by Republican Pete Giesen, who once employed Landes as a legislative aide. Giesen campaigned for Landes in the heavily GOP district.

Republican Glenn Weatherholtz, the 59-year-old sheriff of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County, beat Democrat Gerald Hudson, a college professor, for the reliably GOP 26th District seat vacated by Republican Clinton Miller.

Democrat Vivian Watts will return to the Fairfax County House seat she gave up in 1986 when she became state secretary of transportation and public safety under former Gov. Gerald Baliles. Watts, 55, defeated Republican Tim Hugo, 32, and independent Levi Levy. for the 39th District seat left open by the retirement of Democratic Del. Alan Mayer. Watts, who directs the Fairfax Court Appointed Advocates Program, stressed her experience in state government.

Democrat Brian Moran, an Arlington County prosecutor, beat Republican Bruce Wilmot of Alexandria to take the 46th District seat left open by Democratic Del. Bernard Cohen's retirement. Moran, 36, is the younger brother of Rep. James Moran, D-Alexandria.

Democrat Donald McEachin defeated House Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Ball in a June primary and went on to win the Richmond area's 74th District seat over Republican Gordon Prior, a dentist, in the Richmond area's 74th District.who lost to Ball in 1993. McEachin, a 34-year-old lawyer, criticized Prior's proposal to have all elected officials take drug tests.

Republican Thelma Drake found the second time was the charm as she beat Democratic Del. Howard Copeland after narrowly losing two years ago in Hampton Roads' 87th District. Drake, 45, is a real estate agent, said she would support Allen's agenda. Copeland, a 15-year House member who was chairman of a Chesapeake Bay committee, tried to link himself with the governor by issuing a doctored photo that showed him alone with Allen at a bill signing. Two GOP legislators were airbrushed out of the original photo.

Keywords:
ELECTION

Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.

by CNB