>The people of Virginia seem to have a very poor track record in picking their US Senators.<
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For what it’s worth, we get stuck with John Warner because of a clause that allows the candidate to choose whether he gets picked by a party mass meeting or by a general primary (election), which is open to the voting public.
Guess which method J Warner has consistently picked. Our local leftist newspaper adores him, because he appeals to the public.
He would get steamrolled if his primary was only open to republicans.
Exactly. Warner is tolerable to the left. The only serious challenge he had was from Mark Warner, the rest of the time the left has either run token candidates or no one at all.
Along the way, we've held our noses and voted him back in. He was good for the state when he was chair of the Armed Services Committee. But he's way past his prime.
IF he's foolish enough to run again, he'll lose.