A moderate Republican, Holton was against welcoming conservative Byrd Democrats into the Virginia Republican Party. As the GOP moved increasingly rightward, it turned its back on Holton. When Harry F. Byrd Jr. broke ranks with the increasingly liberal national Democrats and ran as an independent for the Senate in 1970, Holton insisted on running a Republican candidate rather than endorsing an independent. That eventually led to the nomination of Ray Garland. Byrd went on to win the three-way election with an absolute majority.