Warner gets more GOP backing

Another Republican headliner is breaking with his party to back Democrat Mark R. Warner for the U.S. Senate.

Vincent F. Callahan Jr. of Fairfax County, former chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said he is supporting Warner over Republican Jim Gilmore because of Warner’s record of bipartisanship.

Welcoming the endorsement, Warner pledged to work with Republicans if he is elected in November.

Callahan singled out Warner’s handling as governor of the state’s budget crisis, which members of both parties claim was aggravated by Gilmore’s car-tax rollback. Gilmore preceded Warner as governor.

Callahan joins another prominent former GOP legislator, Senate Finance Committee Chairman John H. Chichester of Northumberland County, in endorsing Warner for the seat of retiring Republican John W. Warner.

The two Warners are not related.

Callahan and Chichester were the chief sponsors of Gilmore’s car-tax phaseout in 1998. At the time, they said the state could afford the program, which quickly ballooned to $1 billion.

Chichester later aligned with Mark Warner in capping the tax cut at 75 percent. Chichester and Callahan split in 2004 over Warner’s $1.4 billion tax boost to balance the budget. Chichester backed it; Callahan was opposed.