16 November 2005 :

the Democratic candidate Tim Kaine beat the Republican Jerry Gilmore in the elections to become governor of Virginia.
Kaine, a Catholic, won by a clear margin following a bitter campaign between the two in which the Democratic candidate had openly expressed his opposition to the death penalty. His opponent, former District Attorney Kilgore, is a staunch defender of lethal injection.
Virginia is second only to Texas in the number of people executed since the death penalty was reintroduced in the United States in 1976.