Virginia voters have spoken, and they denied Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s high stakes — and high-dollar — bid to flip the Democratic-led state Senate he has blamed for frustrating key elements of his agenda.
Instead, Democrats appear to have gained control of the House of Delegates from Republicans.
Unofficial results from Election Night tallies show Democrats holding a 21-19 edge in the Senate and taking back the House with a 51-49 edge.
Youngkin put his influence on the line in an effort to flip the Senate to the GOP and hold control of the House. He hoped to enter the second half of his four-year term with an ambitious agenda to turn Virginia to the right on abortion and other hot-button social issues. Now his agenda of more tax relief, restricting access to abortion and increasing school choice will face high hurdles in a legislature run by Democrats.
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His top priority push to transform Virginia's overwhelmed mental health system, however, has won wide Democratic support.
The election drew national attention, in part because of Youngkin’s attempt to build consensus around his proposal to bar most abortions after 15 weeks with exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother. Virginia is the only state in the South that has not imposed additional abortion restrictions since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. A year ahead of elections for president and Congress, politicos watched to see how the issue played in Virginia’s swing districts.
Suburban districts in western Henrico County, the Fredericksburg area, Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia were the key to the battle for control of the legislature. There, Democrats said they’d defend abortion access while Republicans said they’d focus on crime and parents’ rights.
Votes from the unofficial election night tallies came in later than usual because of heavy early voting. Some results could be modified as outstanding mail-in ballots are counted in the days to come and won’t become official until city and county officials complete their canvass. That is a double- and triple-checking of election night counts and review of provisional ballots, which are due on Monday.
“These are gonna be really tight races,” Youngkin said at a Henrico County elementary school about an hour before polls closed. “I think these races are gonna be decided by hundreds of votes.”
Election day started with the Democrats running in 18 apparently safe Senate seats and Republicans in 16, leaving six hotly contested swing districts. The parties appeared to split the six contests, leaving Youngkin one seat shy of a 20-20 tie.
In the House, Democrats appeared to begin with 45 safe seats and Republicans with 44, leaving 11 competitive seats in the balance.
In the Richmond area, Youngkin lost the crucial seat of Sen. Siobhan Dunnavant, R-Henrico, who was defeated by Del. Schuyler VanValkenburg, D-Henrico. Del. Kim Taylor, R-Dinwiddie, declared victory in a close contest with Democratic challenger Kimberly Pope Adams in a Petersburg-area contest. Democrats lost one Henrico County House district but held on to a second one, while picking up a Chesterfield County district mostly made up of a district represented by a retiring Republican legislator.
Redistricting
The final outcome will define a legislature already transformed by a new political redistricting process that prompted an unprecedented number of senior legislators of both parties to retire, including 10 in the 40-member Senate.
The governor’s Spirit of Virginia political action committee raised $28.3 million through Friday and through October it gave $15.1 million to Republican candidates and GOP groups backing the party’s candidates. The Democratic caucuses in the House and Senate gave candidates $23.3 million.
The GOP aimed to flip a state Senate where a 22-18 Democratic edge had frustrated Republican hopes to limit access to abortion and overturn red flag laws aimed at keeping guns out of the hands of people who had threatened others or themselves.
Democrats hoped to take back control of the House of Delegates, where Youngkin’s 2021 election also overturned the 55-45 Democratic majority of the 2020 and 2021 session, giving the GOP a 52-48 edge in 2022 and 2023.
In the state Senate, the election started with 21 newly drawn districts from the 2021 redistricting composed mainly or entirely of areas that had been represented by Democrats and 17 mainly made up of areas that had been represented by Republicans. Two were drawn from districts that had been represented by senators from the two different parties.
In the House of Delegates, 51 newly drawn districts were made up mainly or entirely from districts that Republicans had represented, compared with 48 made up of Democratic districts.
Key races
VanValkenburg defeated two-term Republican senator Dunnavant, receiving 43,276 votes, of 54.3% of those cast, to 36,265, or 45.5% for Dunnavant, unofficial election night tallies showed.
In a Williamsburg-to-Newport News district that Youngkin pushed hard to flip to the GOP, retired York-Poquoson Sheriff Danny Diggs, the Republican, defeated state Sen. Monty Mason, D-Williamsburg, 32,733 votes, or 50.7% to 31,629, or 49%.
In Northern Virginia’s Loudoun County, where Youngkin’s “parents’ rights” campaign mantra took fire in the 2021 gubernatorial race, Democrat Russet Perry defeated Republican Juan Pablo Segura, with 45,675 votes, or 52.5%, to Segura's 40,835, or 47.3%.
In a three-way race in a Stafford County-area district, Del. Tara Durant, R-Stafford, defeated Democrat Joel Griffin, winning 33,794 votes, or 48.3%, to Griffin's 32,267,or 46.1% and Gary's 3,219 or 4.6%.
In the newly drawn western Tidewater and Southside Senate district mashing together areas that had been represented legislators from both parties, Del. Emily Brewer, R-Suffolk, won with 38,470 votes, or 52.9%, to the 34,075 votes, or 46.8% won by Del. Clinton Jenkins, D-Suffolk.
House of Delegates battlegrounds included the Petersburg-area district where Del Kim Taylor, R-Dinwiddie, declared victory over Democrat Kimberly Pope Adams, a financial compliance officer at Virginia State University, with 14,141 votes, or 50% of those cast to 13,968, or 49.6%.
Taylor’s lead of 173 votes Tuesday night did not account for the small number of votes that come from same-day registrations, late mail-in ballots and other origins.
In Henrico County, Democrats focused on defending two new districts mainly composed of areas Democrats represented.
Republican David Owen defeated Democrat Susanna Gibson, winning 17,878 votes, or 51.2% to her 16,912, or 48.4%. Gibson ran a low-profile campaign after a GOP operative disclosed that she and her husband had live-streamed sex acts on the internet. Gibson called disclosure of the videos an effort to distract voters from key issues, including access to abortion.
Del. Rodney Willett, D-Henrico, won 17,738 votes, or 54.1% to Republican Riley Shaia's 15,025 or 45.8%.
Other battlegrounds included the Virginia Beach neighborhoods that gave first-term Republican Del. Karen Greenhalgh a 115-vote victory margin in 2021. Democrat Michael Feggans defeated her Tuesday, winning 12,427 votes, or 52% to her 11,429, or 47.9%.
Around Fredericksburg, Democrat Josh Cole, a former delegate, won back a district that included much of the one he represented in the 2020 and 2021 legislative sessions. After raising more than $3.8 million for his campaign Cole defeated Republican Lee Peters, who raised $2.2 million, with 15,064 votes, or 52.6% of votes cast to 13.479 votes or 47.7% with all precincts reporting and all early votes counted.
Redistricting left a new House district — the Hampton Roads district split between Suffolk and Chesapeake — formed in almost equal numbers of areas that had been represented by delegates from the two different parties.
Republican Baxter Ennis defeated Democrat Karen Jenkins, a Suffolk school board member, with 14,514 votes, or 51.2% to 13,773, or 48.6%.
Northern Virginia’s Prince William County was another battleground. There Democrats hoped to defend two House districts, each largely comprising older areas represented by Democrats.
Republican Ian Lovejoy flipped one seat, defeating Democrat Travis Nembhard 15,810 votes, or 52.6% to 14,179, or 47.2%.
Democrat Josh Thomas defeated Republican John Stirrup, with 13,561 votes, or 51.5%, to Stirrup's 12,571, or 48.3%.