Virgil C. Moore (born December 4, 1933) was a member of the

Kentucky Senate The Kentucky Senate is the upper house of the Kentucky General Assembly. The Kentucky Senate is composed of 38 members elected from single-member districts throughout Kentucky, the Commonwealth. There are no term limits for Kentucky senators. T ...

from 1993 to 2005 representing the state's 5th Senatorial district. In 2003, he ran for the Republican nomination for

Governor of Kentucky The governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky is the head of government of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Kentucky. Sixty-two men and one woman have served as governor of Kentucky. The governor's term is four years in length; sinc ...

. He resides in

Leitchfield, Kentucky Leitchfield is the county seat of Grayson County, Kentucky, United States. Leitchfield is a home rule-class city with a population of 6,404 as of the 2020 census. History The town was named for Major David Leitch, an aide to Gen. George Washi ...

Pre-politics

Moore was born near

Barbourville, Kentucky Barbourville is a home rule-class city in Knox County, Kentucky, in the United States. The population was 3,165 at the 2010 census, down from 3,589 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Knox County. The city was formally established b ...

and grew up in The Baughman area of rural Knox County. He graduated from

Eastern Kentucky University Eastern Kentucky University (Eastern or EKU) is a public university in Richmond, Kentucky. It also maintains branch campuses in Corbin, Hazard, and Manchester and offers over 40 online undergraduate and graduate options. History Founding ...

with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree in mathematics in 1961 and attended the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

’s Career Officers School in 1961 and the Joint Service, Air/Ground Operations School in 1971. Moore served in the army for 21 years before retiring as a

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

. After retirement he spent time farming and as president of Quality Wood Preserving Inc.

Local politics

Moore served as the chairman of the Grayson County Republican Party from 1982 to 1990. He also served as a campaign co-chair for Republican congressional candidates in 1984, 1988, and 1990.

State Senate campaigns

Moore was first elected to the state Senate in 1992. He was nominated by Republican officials in the 5th Senatorial District to replace state Rep. Ronny Layman of Leitchfield, who resigned after pleading guilty to accepting a bribe in the Boptrot sting conducted by the FBI. He defeated former

State Auditor State auditors (also known as state comptrollers, state controllers, or state examiners, among others) are fiscal officers lodged in the executive or legislative branches of U.S. state governments who serve as external auditors, program eval ...

Mary Ann Tobin in the general election, 17,580 to 14,990, getting almost half his margin from the Democrat's home Breckinridge County (3,976 to 2,717). The district comprised precincts in Breckinridge, Grayson,

Hart Hart often refers to: * Hart (deer) * Hart (surname) Hart may also refer to: Organizations * Hart Racing Engines, a former Formula One engine manufacturer * Hart Skis, US ski manufacturer * Hart Stores, a Canadian chain of department store ...

Larue LaRue is a French topographic name for someone who lived beside a road, track, or pathway, Old French ''rue'' (Latin ruga ‘crease’, ‘fold’), with the definite article ''la''. It literally means "the street" in French. It is a surname and s ...

, Meade, and

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counties. In 1996 he defeated Joe Hager of Meade County in the general election by less than a thousand votes after not having a primary challenger. Before the election, the precincts in Larue County were moved to another district. In 2000 he defeated Bill Corum of Meade County with almost 56 percent of the vote in the general election. In 2004 Moore lost to Carroll Gibson in the Republican primary winning only 36 percent of the vote. By this time the precincts in Ohio county had been removed but precincts in Larue and

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counties had been added. While in the senate he served on the Tobacco Task Force and was chairman of the Transportation Committee. A 1998 survey by the Kentucky Center for Public Issues rated Moore as the least effective legislator in the senate.

2003 Gubernatorial race

Moore sought the Republican nomination for governor in 2003. His running mate for lieutenant governor was Don Bell of Oldham County. He finished a distant fourth in the primary winning only 1.5 percent of the vote in the election won by

Ernie Fletcher Ernest Lee Fletcher (born November 12, 1952) is an American physician and politician who was the List of governors of Kentucky, 60th governor of Kentucky from 2003 to 2007. He previously served three consecutive terms in the United States House ...

. Fletcher won the governorship in the general election.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Virgil 1933 births Living people People from Leitchfield, Kentucky People from Barbourville, Kentucky Republican Party Kentucky state senators 21st-century members of the Kentucky General Assembly 20th-century members of the Kentucky General Assembly