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Major Virginia Paper Endorses Third-Party Candidate for President

Rick Bowmer
/
AP

This strange political season has thrown another curveball, an endorsement from one of Virginia’s largest newspapers to a third-party candidate. The unusual move made national headlines over Labor Day weekend.

The Richmond Times Dispatch has endorsed Republicans for president since 1980. But this year, in an editorial that came earlier than normal, they threw their support behind Gary Johnson -- the libertarian former governor of New Mexico.

“He’s a man of good integrity, apparently normal ego, and sound ideas,” wrote the board after meeting Johnson in person in Richmond.

Johnson is one of three third-party candidates that will be on the ballot in Virginia. He’s currently polling at about 10-percent in the state.

The Times Dispatch wrote that neither Trump nor Clinton meets the “fundamental moral and professional standards” of a President.

Virginia’s largest newspaper, The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, stopped endorsing presidential candidates in 2007. 

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