The GOP strategist plans to endorse and advise Terry McAuliffe’s gubernatorial campaign. GOP operative to McAuliffe camp

Boyd Marcus, the veteran GOP political strategist whose clientele included House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, is taking a break from advising Republicans, endorsing and planning to advise Democrat Terry McAuliffe’s gubernatorial campaign in Virginia, The Associated Press reports.

According to the r eport out Tuesday, Marcus is changing lanes (at least for the moment) because McAuliffe represents a candidate willing to work across the aisle.


The endorsement marks an end to Marcus and Allen, the GOP public affairs firm that Marcus founded with business partner Ray Allen in 1996. Allen will be buying Marcus’s shares of the business, according to the report.

( PHOTOS: Terry McAuliffe’s career)

Marcus had most recently worked on the brief gubernatorial bid of Republican Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, which ended last year.

Republican contender Ken Cuccinelli’s campaign was quick to respond to the news, saying voters are not interested in which political consultants are on a campaign.

“Virginians are concerned about each candidate’s vision for the future and how they plan to grow the economy and create jobs, not who their political consultants are,” Richard T. Cullen, the campaign’s communication’s director said in a statement to POLITICO.