Richard D. Obenshain
Richard Dudley Obenshain (October 31, 1935 – August 2, 1978) was an American politician and attorney. Obenshain had served as the chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia, and was nominated in 1978 to run as the Republican nominee for the United States Senate, but died prior to the election. Biography Obenshain was the son of Josephine (Dudley) and Samuel S. Obenshain (1904–2000), a professor at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, where he grew up. The elder Obenshain was active in Virginia's Republican Party during the era of the Byrd Organization, the Democratic machine of Harry F. Byrd. Richard graduated from Bridgewater College in Rockingham County, Virginia, and was admitted to the Virginia Bar. He was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1964. In that same year, he ran for the House of Representatives in based in Richmond, facing Democratic State Delegate David E. Satterfield III. Obenshain nearly ended the long run of Democratic dominance in the district, losing by only 654 votes. He nearly won on the strength of Barry Goldwater carrying the district; Goldwater won every county-level jurisdiction in the district except for the city of Richmond. However, Republicans had been making inroads among Byrd Democrats