Boyd on board for Obama

Before last month, it had been 44 years since Virginia voted for a Democratic presidential candidate — Lyndon Johnson.

Today at noon in Richmond, Virginia’s 13-member Electoral College will cast their votes for President Barack Obama.

Town of Culpeper resident J. Harold Boyd, a politics and government teacher at Chancellor High School in Spotsylvania County, will be among them.

A lifelong Democrat active at many levels since 1972, Boyd, 57, never thought he’d see the day when an African-American would be elected president and Virginia’s Democratic electors would get to vote for him. That’s because he grew up in the town of Orange at a time when schools statewide were segregated and Jim Crow laws were in full affect.

“For my 12th birthday, I got to go on the train from Orange to D.C. and walk from Union Station to the Lincoln Memorial to hear Dr. King,” Boyd said. “So that will give you an idea. I just never in my life thought that I would ever see this.”

But earlier this year, he had a strong feeling Obama would, in fact, come out on top, and he wanted a front-row seat.

So Boyd campaigned hard to be selected elector from Virginia’s Seventh District, and in May his colleagues from Virginia’s Democratic Party overwhelmingly picked him. This year, he also served as campaign manager for Seventh District congressional candidate Anita Hartke of Amissville.

“Being a government teacher, it is a new learning experience; I’m gaining more insight into the process so I can share it with my kids,” he said of why he wanted to be part of the Electoral College.

Plus, Boyd gets tickets to the inauguration.

“I have to physically pick up the tickets in person on Jan. 15 or 16 in D.C. in the Joint Inaugural Committee Office, and I have to go in and show a photo ID and sign my life away to get my two tickets,” he said.

Boyd joins the nation’s Democratic electors Jan. 20 on the West Front Lawn of the Capital.

“There’s a horseshoe fountain in the middle of it. That’s where we get to sit,” he said.

Boyd should know.

As well as being a scholar of history and politics, he’s also an active participant in the process. This is the second time he’s held the elector designation; in 1976, Boyd was on the losing side when the state voted for Gerald Ford over Jimmy Carter.

In addition, Boyd’s attended his share of inaugurations.

“I was able to go to Kennedy, Johnson and Carter’s,” he said. “I had to stand for the second one, and the first one I was sitting on my parents’ lap.”

Boyd hoped Jan. 20 would be nothing like the late President Reagan’s second inauguration when it was minus 20 degrees in Washington, D.C., and they had to move the whole thing inside.

But for now, his thoughts are on voting for Obama today in Richmond.

“I’m just thrilled, absolutely thrilled,” Boyd said. “After I got chosen elector, my cousin said, ‘Glad you got elected, glad you’re on the ballot, but you’re not going to get to vote,’ and they’ve all had to eat crow because we won.”

He said each of the 13 electors is required to cast his or her vote orally; today’s ceremony takes place at noon in the House of Delegates Chamber in Richmond.

Boyd hasn’t decided if he’s going to make a speech after voting, though election officials have encouraged electors to keep it brief if they do.

Friends coming too
Chuck Holmes, a longtime political ally and former secretary of the Culpeper County Electoral Board, is going with him, along with his wife, Donna.

Boyd will also attend receptions before and after the ceremony at the governor’s mansion, Jefferson Hotel and Science Museum of Virginia.

He ranked the election of Obama among the nation’s top moments in history, and was especially pleased to note that his town of Culpeper voted for the ultimate victor.

“It’s showing that the town has changed. It’s not the Culpeper I moved to in 1974,” Boyd said. “I see the town getting closer to what Fairfax City was in the ’80s where you still had some of the old charm, but diversity is here, which it hasn’t been before.”

Looking back on the Hartke campaign, Boyd did not consider it a failure. The first-time candidate, though she lost, received more than 137,000 votes against incumbent U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Richmond, who has since been named chief deputy whip.

“That’s the most votes against Eric ever,” Boyd said. “And percentage-wise, she did better than any of the four candidates that have run against him too.”

Cantor is not unbeatable, he added, so long as ample funds for political advertising can be raised — Hartke raised $70,000 to the incumbent’s $3.5 million.

She’s already gearing up to run against Cantor in 2010, Hartke said Friday, adding that Boyd is an asset to the Democratic Party.

“He is a very dedicated political activist behind the scenes, but always making sure the party stays strong,” Hartke said. “He cares about politics and how it affects the function of society. He thinks it is essential — it affects everything in life.”

Allison Brophy Champion can be reached at 825-0771 ext. 101 or abrophy@starexponent.com

More about Boyd
J. Harold Boyd, a Culpeper resident who teaches history at Chancellor High School in Spotsylvania County, is in Richmond today to vote for Barack Obama as one of Virginia’s 13 representatives in the Electoral College.

Boyd is a lifelong Democrat who has been active in the party at many levels since 1972. He currently serves as communications specialist for the Culpeper County Democratic Committee and on the Seventh District State Central Committee, an oversight body for the Democratic Party of Virginia. He was also campaign manager for 7th District U.S. House candidate Anita Hartke.

The Electoral College convenes today at noon in the House of Delegates chamber on the second floor of the State Capitol.