The Western District of Virginia stretches from Winchester through Charlottesville, Roanoke and all the way to Floyd County. And the district will likely have a new federal prosecutor soon.
Former Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates Todd Gilbert is walking away from the campaign trail and into the courthouse. President Donald Trump is nominating him to be the next U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia.
"Todd was a very capable manager of the House, and that's the job," says Chris Saxman, a former Republican delegate who served with Gilbert in the House. "The place has to run on time, and that's one of the great misunderstood and misappreciated elements of being Speaker of the House is to get a hundred people to show up every day on time and get their work done."
Carl Tobias at the University of Richmond says Gilbert enjoys support from both sides of the aisle.
"You have the Democrats in the Senate, Warner and Kaine, working closely because they trust Todd Gilbert, and recommending him to the White House," Tobias says. "And the White House was smart enough to say, ‘It's not worth the trouble to make a big fuss about this, and let's take this person who is one of our party.’"
Gilbert – who still needs Senate confirmation – was running for reelection this year. So now that he’s dropping out of that race, Republicans will look at putting a different candidate on the ballot in this Shenandoah seat that’s a reliably red district, where Republicans have a 50-point advantage.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
