When Mayor Doug Wilder Ruled Richmond: Strong-Arm Politics in Virginia's Capital City - Hardcoverby Linwood Norman (Author) Our nation's first elected Black governor, L. Douglas Wilder, returned to public service in 2005 as the first popularly elected mayor of Richmond, Virginia, in sixty years. Despite his landslide election, voters may have had little idea what they were getting themselves into, as many were ill prepared for Wilder's strong style of leadership. He had remarkable success in reducing crime, cutting government spending, and