Editing Douglas Wilder (section)

== Early political life ==

Douglas Wilder had joined the Democratic Party and began his career in public office by winning a 1969 [[by-election|special election]] for the [[Virginia State Senate]] from a Richmond-area district. He was the first African American elected to the Virginia Senate since [[Reconstruction era of the United States|Reconstruction]]. A 1970 redistricting gave Wilder a predominantly African-American district, and he became a liberal in a predominantly conservative, white-majority legislature.

Wilder briefly flirted with an independent bid for the [[United States Senate]] in 1982. He did so after the initial favorite for the Democratic nomination, [[Virginia House of Delegates|State Delegate]] [[Owen B. Pickett|Owen Pickett]] of [[Virginia Beach]], paid homage to the [[Byrd Organization]] in announcing his bid. Angered that Pickett would praise a political machine who obstinately resisted racial integration, Wilder threatened to make an independent bid for the seat if Pickett won the nomination.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Barone |first1=Michael |author-link1=Michael Barone (pundit) |last2=Ujifusa |first2=Grant |title=[[The Almanac of American Politics|The Almanac of American Politics 1988]]|publisher=[[National Journal]] |year=1987 |page=1227}}</ref> Pickett not only realized that Wilder was serious, but that he would siphon off enough black votes in a three-way race to hand the seat to the Republican nominee, Congressman [[Paul Trible]]. Pickett pulled out of the race, and Wilder abandoned plans to run for the Senate.

In [[1985 Virginia lieutenant gubernatorial election|1985]] Wilder was narrowly elected as the 35th [[Lieutenant Governor of Virginia]] on a [[Democratic Party of Virginia|Democratic]] ticket headed by [[Attorney General of Virginia|Attorney General]] [[Gerald L. Baliles]], the party's candidate for governor.  Wilder was the first African American to win a statewide election in Virginia.  Aware that he needed to reach the swath of the state's majority-white electorate, Wilder had undertaken a two-month "back roads" campaign tour of the state, visiting Virginia's predominantly rural central and western regions and enhancing his name recognition across the state.