Douglas Wilder

Lawrence Douglas Wilder is an American politician from Richmond, Virginia. He was the first African-American to be elected as a state official in Virginia, when he was elected Lieutenant Governor in 1985. He had earlier served on the state Senate. In 1989 Wilder was elected governor of Virginia, the first African-American to be elected as a governor in the country. After his first term was up, Wilder could not run for reelection due to term limits. In 2004, he ran for mayor of Richmond and won with 79% percent of the vote. After serving a term as mayor, Wilder announced he was finished. He is now a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Despite being a Democrat, Wilder has been considered conservative on issues such as abortion and death penalty.