Beyer, now U.S. ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein, said in an interview that Bolling will get more attention but that any future races will probably be decided on other issues. “It does make him more a player,’’ he said. “But in general, it’s going to be overstated.’’
In 2000, Republicans took full control of the chamber. In 2007, Democrats rode a national anti-Republican wave and flipped it back.
After the election last week, Democrats waited nervously for Republicans to decide whether they would allow the parties to share power. But on Wednesday, after the numbers for the final race became clear, the GOP immediately asserted its power.
While McDonnell sounded conciliatory, telling Republicans not to be arrogant and Democrats not to be angry, Bolling delivered a strong statement about the GOP’s decision to exert control over the chamber. He said later that Republican leaders decided before the Capitol Square news conference that he would be the one to carry that message. “That’s my role,’’ he said.
Republican senators will meet this week to chose their caucus’s leaders — and begin to ponder chair leaders for committees — as they ready for the 60-day session that begins in January.
Sen. John C. Watkins (R-Chesterfield), easily reelected last week, said he hopes Bolling doesn’t encroach on the prerogatives of the legislature by acting like the 21st GOP senator.
“I hope he sticks to his word and doesn’t try to leverage his position,’’ he said.
The 2013 gubernatorial race
Bolling grew up in coal country in Virginia and West Virginia. He was the first person in his family to graduate from college. The vice president of one of the nation’s largest independent insurance brokers, he lives outside Richmond with his wife, Jean Ann.
He spends a couple mornings a week at his insurance office and 40-plus hours working for the state — talking to business executives, cutting the ribbons on new businesses and attending meetings of some of the eight government boards he serves on.
Bolling, a former state senator from Hanover County, said he spent four years as lieutenant governor “on the outside looking in “ during Kaine’s administration. He was expected to run for governor in 2009, but he instead ran for reelection as part of a team with McDonnell.
McDonnell, one of the most popular governors in the nation, has given him an elevated role as a member of his Cabinet and is supporting him in the 2013 gubernatorial race.
Terry McAuliffe, an unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate in 2009, is the only other candidate who has told people he expects to run for governor. The former head of the Democratic National Committee campaigned for candidates across the state this year, but declined to comment on his party’s losses or Bolling’s new role.
Cuccinelli, a tea party favorite who was elected as part of a GOP sweep in 2009, has said he is weighing whether to challenge Bolling in a primary in 2013 or U.S. Sen. Mark Warner (D) in 2014.
Gary C. Byler, a longtime Republican activist who chairs the Second Congressional Republican Committee, called Bolling a “statesman” for allowing McDonnell to run unopposed in 2009, but said he expects a member of his party to challenge him in 2013.
“It reflects a general dissatisfaction with the nomination being inherited,’’ he said. “It needs to be earned in its own right.”
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