RICHMOND, Feb. 24 -- Sen. H. Russell Potts Jr., a Republican from Winchester, plans to announce Friday morning that he is mounting an independent bid for governor but will not formally leave the party he says is gripped by conservative social issues and anti-tax rhetoric.
Potts, an irascible politician who has become a voice of the GOP moderates as chairman of the Senate's Education and Health Committee, has scheduled a news conference at the State Capitol to announce his decision.
Sen. H. Russell Potts Jr. has become a voice of Republican moderates and a thorn in the side of the party's conservative leaders.
(Bob Brown -- Richmond Times-dispatch Via Ap)
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He declined to comment publicly Thursday, but aides and colleagues said Potts has informed them that he is certain to run as an "independent Republican" in the 2005 campaign.
"He is a good man, and he is a candidate. He is a natural," said Thomas J. D'Amore Jr., a senior campaign adviser to Potts who worked for Lowell P. Weicker Jr., a former U.S. senator and Connecticut governor. "Is it a long shot? You bet. You can expect a really good fight and a good deal of good sportsmanship."
His entry will transform the Virginia governor's campaign into a three-way race between Potts and the two likely major-party candidates, former attorney general Jerry W. Kilgore (R) and Lt. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D).
Some political observers said Potts could hand the race to Kaine if enough voters see the Winchester senator as an alternative to Kilgore's conservative policies.
Sen. Janet D. Howell (D-Fairfax), one of Potts's closest friends in the Senate, said Potts "believes that the Republican Party has deserted the moderates. His candidacy will point out how far to the right Jerry Kilgore is."
Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia professor, said Potts is "a repository for disaffected Republicans and independents who don't want to vote Democratic but believe the GOP has gone too far to the right."
Kilgore aides denounced Potts as a disaffected Republican who has embraced liberal policies on taxation and abortion. They insisted that he will compete with Kaine for votes from Democrats and will have no impact on Kilgore's chances to win.
"Now, the High Tax/Big Government Spending lobby has two liberal candidates to choose from in the race for Governor," Kilgore spokesman Tim Murtaugh said in a statement. "Russ Potts has been critical of and hostile to the policies and agendas of President George W. Bush, U.S. Senator George Allen, then-Governor Jim Gilmore."
Murtaugh also accused Potts of having close ties to the teachers union and other unions that are longtime supporters of Democrats.
"Just exactly whom in the Republican Party does he find acceptable and where are all these disaffected Republicans he claims support his cause? Show us a list, Mr. Potts," Murtaugh said.
Potts is a sports promoter who came to the Senate in 1992 as a fiscal and social conservative. The walls of his office are covered with photos of Republican politicians, including a photo of former president Gerald R. Ford that is signed: "It was great visiting with you in Winchester. Warmest best wishes."
But over the years, Potts has become a populist thorn in the party's side even as he rose in seniority in the Senate. In recent years, he has been key to the Senate's efforts to block abortion restrictions and legislation aimed at illegal immigrants. Last year, he argued passionately for a tax increase to pay for enhanced state services.
"Now, the rubber meets the road," he urged his colleagues during the floor debate last year. "Now we have to make the tough call, the tough decisions. We cannot place our head in the sand. We cannot hope this will go away. We cannot use smoke and mirrors. We cannot move money around."
Later, he cited former U.S. senator Harry F. Byrd as "having the guts and courage to face down the critics and say, 'I hate taxes, but I love Virginia more.' "
