RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The Virginia House passed a bill Wednesday that would remove a statue of Harry F. Byrd Sr., a staunch segregationist, from the state Capitol grounds.
The measure advanced on a 63-34 vote. It still must clear the Democrat-controlled Senate before it goes to Gov. Ralph Northam, who has said he supports it.
Byrd, a Democrat, served as governor and U.S. senator. He ran the state’s most powerful political machine for decades until his death in 1966 and was considered the architect of the state’s racist “massive resistance” policy to public school integration.
The larger-than-life statue erected in 1976 and located a stone’s throw from the Capitol depicts Byrd with a copy of the federal budget. A nearby plaque says the statue was dedicated in appreciation of Byrd’s “devotion throughout a long public career to governmental restraint and programs in the best interest of all the people of Virginia.”
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