From Democrat to Independent to Republican, Rep. Virgil Goode has been all over the political map.
Goode, the Independent now representing Virginia's 5th district, said Saturday he would be "honored" to receive the district's Republican nomination for the upcoming 2002 congressional election.
Goode left the Democratic Party to become an Independent Jan. 2000.
Tucker Watkins, chairman of the 5th district GOP, said the party would begin circulating petitions to gain the necessary signatures for Goode's placement on the June 11 primary ballot. Goode now is running unopposed.
Goode, who made the announcement at the 5th district's GOP committee meeting, said that if Republicans put his name on the party's primary ballot, and he wins re-election in the fall, then he will join the Republican Party.
Larry J. Sabato, professor of government and foreign affairs, said Goode's announcement did not surprise him.
"I haven't seen any major change in his beliefs. It's just much easier to run as the nominee of a major party," Sabato said. "He would still be very popular no matter what party he joined."
Now in his third term, the 55-year-old Goode first was elected to Congress in 1996. He represents a conservative district of over 500,000 people, including Charlottesville, Martinsville and Danville, its largest city.
Second-year College student Jim Bradley, who hails from Martinsville, agrees with Sabato and said he does not think Goode's party maneuvering would affect his popularity.
"I feel very confident people elected him as a person and not as a politician," Bradley said. "I'm impressed that he doesn't feel compelled to follow" the ideology of his father, a staunch Democrat, he added.
The 5th district depends primarily on tobacco and manufacturing for its income. According to the Washington Post, its median household income of $24,807 ranks ninth out of the 11 districts in the Commonwealth, and in the bottom third nationally.
Goode was a maverick Democrat during his early years in office, consistently voting against the party on taxes, guns, abortion and foreign policy. He also was one of only five Democrats who voted to impeach President Clinton in 1998.
A 1999 Congressional Quarterly report found that Goode opposed Clinton on 84 percent of House votes, higher than any other Democrat, and even higher than 85 percent of House Republicans.
A native of Rocky Mount, Va., Goode was in the Virginia State Senate from 1973 to 1997, and served in the National Guard from 1969 to 1975. He received his college degree from the University of Richmond in 1969 and earned his J.D. from the University in 1973.
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