Republican Bill Bolling re-elected Va. lieutenant governor

The Virginian-Pilot and The Roanoke Times

Republican William T. “Bill” Bolling easily won re-election as lieutenant governor on Tuesday, gathering 57 percent of the vote to Democrat Jody M. Wagner’s 43 percent.

Bolling’s campaign promises included lower taxes and tax credits for businesses that create new jobs, as well as support for offshore drilling, with royalties dedicated to transportation projects.

As the Republicans celebrated their sweep of the races for governor, attorney general and lieutenant governor, Bolling said: “The votes have been counted. Virginia’s red, Democrats are blue.”

Wagner urged her supporters to keep focusing on job creation, education and transportation.

“Our work is not over; we cannot pack up and go home,” she said in her concession speech. “These issues are going to be just as important tomorrow as they are today.”

The lieutenant governor’s position is a part-time, $36,000-a-year job with only two constitutional duties: presiding over and casting tie-breaking votes in the state Senate and standing by to take over if the governor is unable to finish his term. But it’s often a steppingstone to the governor’s office.

Bolling, 52, of Hanover County, is an insurance executive with the Baltimore-based firm Riggs, Counselman, Michaels & Downes. He was first elected lieutenant governor in 2005 after 10 years in the state Senate.

Wagner, 54, a Virginia Beach attorney and businesswoman, served as finance secretary under Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and as state treasurer under Kaine’s predecessor, Mark Warner.

During the campaign, Wagner criticized Bolling as a “no-show” lieutenant governor, accusing him of attending only 6 percent of the meetings of the state boards and commissions of which he is a member. Bolling said that when his attendance was not required at meetings, he sent staffers in his place.

Bolling, in turn, blamed Wagner for the nearly $7 billion in budget cuts made by the Kaine administration because the revenue projections she submitted as finance secretary were overly optimistic. Wagner said it was unfair to blame her for a recession-induced revenue shortfall.

During the campaign, Robert F. “Bob” McDonnell pledged that if he won the governorship, Bolling would have a critical role in luring new jobs to Virginia.

McDonnell also said he was indebted to Bolling for his “incredible sacrificial leadership” when Bolling agreed in 2008 to run again for lieutenant governor and allow McDonnell, then attorney general, to run unopposed for the GOP gubernatorial nomination.