Democrat Tim Kaine won the 2005 governor's race, defeating Republican Jerry Kilgore in a GOP-leaning state despite a last-minute campaign visit from President Bush. Kaine won 51 percent of the vote.

Kaine was elected to Richmond City Council in 1994, narrowly defeating an incumbent. Four years later, his fellow council members elected him mayor, making him the first white to win the office with the support of the council's black majority.

He was elected lieutenant governor in 2001.

(Last updated by Bob Lewis on March 19, 2009.)

Mark Warner defeated Jim Gilmore in 2008 with 65 percent of the vote, to win the Senate seat vacated by retiring Republican John Warner.

Warner's first role in a statewide campaign was in 1989 when he managed the gubernatorial race of L. Douglas Wilder, the nation's first elected black governor. During Wilder's term, Warner served as chairman of the Virginia Democratic Party.

In 1996, Warner ran for office for the first time, challenging John Warner's bid for a fourth Senate term. Mark Warner spent $10 million of his personal fortune in the race and finished about 6 percentage points behind the senator.

Warner was elected governor in 2001 over Mark L. Earley, an evangelical Republican. Warner spent nearly $4.7 million of his own money in that race and won by about 5 percentage points.

In 2005, shortly before he left office, Warner established Forward Together, a federal political action committee that he used to explore a 2008 presidential run. He abandoned that race in October 2006, but the PAC remains in operation.

(Last updated by Larry O'Dell on April 22, 2009.)

Jim Webb defeated incumbent Republican Sen. George Allen by less than 10,000 votes in 2006.

A former Republican, Webb served as Secretary of the Navy under President Ronald Reagan.

(Last updated by Larry O'Dell on April 22, 2009.)