My neighbor to the north, Vince Callahan, announced yesterday that he will retire at the end of this term. First elected in 1967, he rose to be Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee and lead budget conferee.

When Vince first went down to Richmond, he became one of only 14 Republicans in the House. Northern Virginia’s population was 960,500 (21.3% of the state). Now, Republicans number 57 of the House’s 100 members, and Northern Virginia’s 2,440,091 citizens constitute 31.9% of the Commonwealth.

Vince has served long and well, and we wish him the best.