George Francis Barnes (May 25, 1919 – March 15, 2004) was an American businessman and politician aligned with the Republican Party, who served in the Virginia state senate briefly in 1963 and then again from 1966 until his defeat ten years later.

Following the conflict, in addition to farming in Tazewell County, Barnes operated an independent coal mining company.

[3] Barnes won his first election in 1963, following the death of longtime state senator Harry C. Stuart, a Democrat who aligned with the Byrd Organization during Massive Resistance.

He won re-election several times, despite further district boundary and number changes, in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's one man/one vote jurisprudence (which also led to the state senate's expansion from 33 seats including multi-member districts to 40 single-member seats) as well as population changes reflected in federal censuses.

Smyth County moved to the 39th District, to which prominent prosecutor and later state judge George M. Warren, Jr. was elected and re-elected several times (and with his father would be the namesake of the Bristol Justice Center),[6] and Buchanan County was added to the 40th District, to which Democrat Dr. John C. Buchanan was elected.