Nelson, the Varina District supervisor, noted that the county employs a stable of managers and employees who outlast political terms. It’s a type of governance, he said, that promotes continuity.

“I like having a group of people who can consistently work together for years,” he said. “They have a history that goes beyond your election.”

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Even as greater numbers of Brookland District voters cast ballots in favor of more Democrats in national elections, Glover’s local hold during his nearly 30-year tenure as supervisor was steady.

He ran unchallenged in 2003 and 2011 and defeated his Democratic opponent with 60.6 percent of the vote in 2015.

That was a product of Glover’s attentiveness to his constituents, Nelson said.

“Dick was a Republican, we knew that, but at the end of the day, Dick was more about Brookland than he was about partisanship.”

Glover’s son, Joe, said his father outworked his opponents, established relationships with people in his district and formed friendships with people of all political persuasions.