Harold Forsythe is certainly right: Billy Mahone only got about one-third of the vote in Loudoun in the 1889 gubernatorial election, carrying only 4 of the county's 26 precincts (all old Unionist strongholds). The Readjusters had some support in Loudoun--in 1877, the county sent two Readjusters to the General Assembly. A biracial coalition did exist, with some complaints by the black partners of being neglected in the distribution of patronage. By 1889, the Conservatives were thoroughly organized and demonizing Mahone. Black voter turnout, moreover, was probably suppressed (by about 600 from 1888) by the lynching right before the election of a young black man, Orion Anderson, for the alleged "attempted assault on Miss May Leith." 

This information is drawn from a very useful work by a local Loudoun historian: Wynne C. Saffer,_Loudoun Votes, 1867-1971:A Civil War Legacy_, published in 2002 by Willow Bend Books. Loudoun has many tales to tell in its 250 year history. 

Jim Hershman

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