CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Former Democratic state senator Joe Morrissey said his leaning is to support fellow party members Abigail Spanberger for governor and Jay Jones for attorney general.

But the only candidate Morrissey is officially endorsing is a Republican. Morrissey has officially endorsed John Reid in the race against Sen. Ghazala Hashmi for the lieutenant governor’s post.

“In the House and in the Senate, I was always the person that looked at a bill and said, ‘Is this good for Virginia or not? Is this good for my constituents or not?’” Morrissey told Cville Right Now on Friday. “I was not interested in just voting the party line and, of course, that earned me the wrath of my caucus on many, many occasions. When I looked at the race for lieutenant governor, who’s best for Virginia? It’s not even a close call. It’s John Reid.”

Morrissey, who worked as a commonwealth’s attorney in Richmond from 1989-1993, served in the General Assembly from 2008-2024, overlapping with Hashmi. He labeled her a politician who always voted along party lines and said she is too far left of center for moderate Democrats like himself.

In Reid, Morrissey said he found a candidate whose views he believes are closer to the middle.

“I think his views reflect the sentiment of not just mainstream Republicans, but mainstream Virginia,” Morrissey said.

Morrissey pointed to specific issues, including Reid’s support of Israel and his advocacy for alternatives to public education as topics that drew Morrissey into Reid’s camp.

While Morrissey said his opinion of Hashmi is derived from their time together in Richmond, his admiration for Reid developed more from afar.

“I only knew him from his hosting WRVA for about 10 or 15 years,” Morrissey said. “I was a Democrat. He was a conservative Republican. And if you listened to us, you’d say, ‘Well, John certainly is not a friend of Joe Morrissey,’ or vice versa. But over those years, I learned to respect his preparedness to discuss an issue and his knowledge of issues. He would listen to a point or an argument that I would make and agree when I made a valid point.”

Morrissey has gone as far as to join the leadership of the “Democrats for John Reid” coalition Reid launched this week.

“Virginians know that our Commonwealth works best when we work together,” Reid said in a statement announcing the coalition. “I am proud to have the support of Democrats who are standing up for common sense and for a government that is accountable to the people; not the political class in Richmond. Together, we’re building a broad coalition to move Virginia forward.”

For her part, Hashmi – who held an 11-point lead over Reid in the most recent poll by Christopher Newport University’s Wasson Center – responded to Morrissey’s endorsement of Reid with a short social media post.

“I’m proud to have not received this endorsement for our campaign today,” Hashmi posted. “Thank you to everyone else for all of the support.”

Morrissey’s career was spotted with legal difficulties, the most significant coming in 2014, when he agreed to enter an Alford plea – acknowledging the prosecution had sufficient evidence for a conviction – to a charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a misdemeanor.

Still, his decision to cross party lines for one of the three statewide races grabbed headlines.

Morrissey said he believes there’s a good chance of a split ticket this November, and thinks Reid can win his race even if Republican nominee for governor Winsome Earle-Sears loses hers.

“But it has to be a close race,” Morrissey said. “If Spanberger is winning by greater than three points, she’s bringing the other people along. If she’s winning by seven, eight points, then the race is over. It’s a Democratic sweep. If she wins by three points or less, then Virginians have had a healthy respect in the past for splitting the ticket. Could that happen this year? Yes, absolutely. If it turns out that the Spanberger race for governor is close and if Spanberger wins by a close margin, then my prediction now is that John is elected lieutenant governor.”

Will he eventually endorse Spanberger and Jones in the other races?

“I haven’t endorsed for that and the only Republican that I came out for was John,” Morrissey said. “I do not believe that I am any type of kingmaker whatsoever. I’m probably leaning towards the Democrats. Spanberger and Jay Jones right now, and that’s as far as I really feel like going. I’m leaning towards my support for them, but for John Reid that’s not a question. I’m all in.”