Don Butler
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Reverend Don Butler is a fictional conservative televangelist from Virginia, played by Don S. Davis. He is a recurring character on the American television show The West Wing. He was a candidate for the Republican Party's nomination for President of the United States in the 2006 election, but was defeated by Arnold Vinick, a U.S. Senator from California.
In "In God We Trust", it is mentioned that Butler won primaries in conservative states that Vinick, a pro-choice moderate, could never have hoped to have won. It is also said that Butler was the last candidate standing against Vinick after the other candidates (Glen Allen Walken, Congressman Darren Gibson, Allard and three others) dropped out.
After Vinick secured the nomination, Butler became his first choice as running mate; despite Butler's strong criticism of Vinick's pro-choice views on abortion, Vinick thought highly of him and felt he needed Butler to unite the party and help Vinick gain support among pro-life social conservatives. Vinick attempted to offer the VP position to Butler, but Butler contended that he could serve neither as Vinick's running mate nor as his vice president, given their very different views on abortion. Vinick then turned to Governor Ray Sullivan of West Virginia, a pro-life conservative with more independent appeal and experience, who accepted the vice presidential nomination.
Butler and his pro-life views are mentioned again in "Message of the Week", when he is said to be one of the key leaders of the (fictional) American Christian Assembly, a socially conservative group led by prominent Christian Right reverends. When George Rohr, a key advisor to the ACA, began pressuring Vinick for promises on pro-life judicial appointments and Vinick attempted to defend his position on abortion by highlighting the difference between him and his Democratic opponent, Matt Santos, on Partial-Birth, Rohr bluntly retorted "Reverend Butler and the others think that just means that Santos wants to kill a few hundred more babies a year than you do."
Though there is no solid evidence to support that Butler's character was modeled after any actual person, there are similarities to televangelist Pat Robertson, who is based in Virginia Beach, Virginia and who himself was a presidential candidate in 1988. And also was known for is Pro-Life and Anti-gay views.
