Why did Virginia turn Republican before the rest of the south?

[PragmaticPopulist]

I've done a lot of research on it, and I couldn't find a definitive answer. Eisenhower's victory in 1952 was only the third time it was ever carried by a Republican and it also had a 9-1 R congressional delegation from 1980 to 1982. My best guess is it had to do with the Byrd Organization refusing to support Harry Truman and Adlei Stevenson and that suburbs in Virginia turned Republican quicker than other southern states. Does anyone know the real reason?

[Matty]

Defense spending, maybe?

[Mr. Smith]

The Shenandoah had already flipped even during the New Deal Era on the lower level, which is where The Byrd Machine was based.

Turns out all the fiscal intervention wasn't so popular, and then the D's gone and went to Civil Rights, which didn't fly so well either.

Even in 1948, Truman didn't exactly win it by nearly the same margins as the rest of The South at all, not even double digits.