Republican Party of Virginia

The Republican Party of Virginia (RPV) is the Virginia chapter of the Republican Party. It is based at the Richard D. Obenshain Center in Richmond. History Antebellum John Curtiss Underwood formed the party's newspaper in Wheeling, the first in any of the border states using financial aid from William H. Seward. Underwood also received financial backing to form a colony for northern workers in Ceredo. Republicans, such as Cassius Marcellus Clay and Underwood, viewed John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry as damaging to the party. Almost all of Abraham Lincoln's support in the 1860 election came from around Wheeling. The Republicans supported Francis Harrison Pierpont's unionist Virginia government during the Civil War.