The former CEO of the Carlyle Group won a contested seven-way nominating battle to claim the Republican mantle, and will face whomever wins the June 8th Democratic primary.

Virginia Republicans will be gathering for an unassembled convention, and will use ranked-choice voting to pick their gubernatorial nominee from seven candidates.

The former governor announced his candidacy Wednesday, with three African American campaign co-chairs. He will be running against three African American contenders for his old seat.

The decision prompted gubernatorial candidate Amanda Chase — a controversial state senator — to declare she would run as an independent, but has reversed course and will run as a Republican.

If Fairfax wins, he would be the second African American governor elected to the office.

He beat Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker and a host of other candidates.

The D.C. Council would be renamed the Legislative Assembly of Washington, D.C. and councilmembers would become representatives under legislation introduced today by At-large Councilmember David Grosso.

Analysts say the ruling will make it harder to bring future corruption charges against politicians. It is unclear if prosecutors will attempt to retry McDonnell.

Virginia Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling won’t, after all, seek out a promotion to the state’s top office this year, he announced today after months of equivocation.

Now that Tareq Salahi is officially unhitched from ex-wife Michaele, he can focus on his next big project: That run for governor of Virginia.