On July 30, Harry F. Byrd, Jr., died at the age of 98. He was elected to the U.S. Senate from Virginia in 1970 and again in 1976 as an independent. Until Angus King’s victory in Maine in 2012, he had been the only independent ever elected to the U.S. Senate by popular vote who got a majority of the vote, even though both major parties had a nominee against him. See this story.
Before 1970, he had previously been elected to the U.S. Senate as a Democrat. He ran as an independent in 1970 because the Virginia Democratic Party was requiring its nominees to take an oath to support the Democratic 1972 presidential nominee. Byrd was not willing to take an oath to support someone when that person had not even yet been chosen.
Although I was never a big fan of former Virginia Senator Harry F. Byrd’s politics (too conservative), I do admire him for refusing to endorse a yet to be determined presidential nominee. While in theory political parties are made up of like minded individuals, they are not monolith. One of the things that I admired about Congressman Ron Paul (too libertarian) was his refusing to endorse the Republican presidential nominees (too conservative) in 2008 and 2012. I can admire anyone who stands by their principles, even if I disagree with their principles.
Gerard Davis (too liberal?)
I always thought “too libertarian” was an anarchist.
My first vote after I became eligible to do so at age 21, was for Harry Byrd in 1970. I met him at a campaign rally in Staunton, Virgina and he autographed a campaign card that read: “Spread the word, vote for Byrd.” If more people like him had been elected to Congress, we would not have the terrible Federal debt that looms over us now.