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Linwood Holton Jr., 1st GOP Va. governor of 20th century, dies

The Associated Press

October 28, 2021, 8:32 PM

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A. Linwood Holton Jr., Virginia’s first Republican governor since Reconstruction and a crusader against racial discrimination, died Thursday. He was 98.

Holton, who served from 1970 to 1974, declared an end to “Massive Resistance,” Virginia’s institutional defiance of federal orders to desegregate its schools. A moderate who raised taxes, he eventually fell out of favor with an increasingly conservative GOP he criticized as obsessed with cutting taxes at the expense of crucial services.

Holton died peacefully at his home in Kilmarnock, his children said in a statement shared by the office of Democratic U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, Holton’s son-in-law. Kaine called Holton “more than a father-in-law — he was my friend and my public service role model.”

“His courageous efforts to end racial discrimination in Virginia, born out of a deep religious conviction about the equality of all God’s children, made him a moral pillar for so many,” Kaine said.

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