Moran elected DPVA Chairman

As expected, former House Minority Leader and candidate for Governor, Brian Moran was elected the Chairman of the Democratic Party of Virginia.  Moran, who now works as a lobbyist for a group that supports for-profit higher education, easily beat an insurgent candidacy from Northern Virginia attorney Peter Rousselot.

Moran had the support of most of the party insiders and elected officials, including Senator Mark Warner. and former Governor and current DNC Chairman Tim Kaine (While there were rumors of Kaine’s behind the scenes support for Moran, the DNC Chair was publicly neutral). Moran’s win was welcomed by his former rival for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination Terry McAuliffe, who tweeted his congratulations to Moran moments after the vote. McAuliffe is widely expected to run again for Governor in 2013.

Moran’s candidacy was challenged by a few prominet Democratic bloggers who pleaded with their readership to elect Rousselot and thereby change the direction of the party. Their plea fell short as close to 200 party members elected Moran as Chair. While the Rousselot campaign did enjoy the very enthusiastic support of these bloggers, it is worth noting that Moran did have the support of a number of other active and influential lefty blog writers.

Moran takes office immediately.

The full statement from the DPVA can be found after the jump.