By Canadian Press

Virginia Democrats hold Senate majority, ending GOP hopes to win full control of state government

Nov 7, 2023 | 8:30 PM

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia Democrats held their majority in the state Senate on Tuesday, but control of the House of Delegates remained unsettled late into the evening, with vote counting still underway in key races.

The Democrats’ victory in the upper chamber ended the prospect of a Republican trifecta that would have allowed Gov. Glenn Youngkin to swiftly move on conservative policy priorities that Senate Democrats have been able to stymie in his first two years in office. The chamber has been under Democratic control since 2020.

Every General Assembly seat was on the ballot in this year’s hard-fought election cycle.

Virginia is one of just four states holding legislative races this year, and it’s something of a microcosm of other closely divided states that will be critical in next year’s presidential election. That has fueled outsized interest in the legislative races, as both parties are closely monitoring the results for signs about voter moods heading into the 2024 campaign.

Virginia Democrats largely centered their campaigns around pledges to protect abortion rights. Virginia is the only state in the South that has not enacted new restrictions on abortion since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year. The results could comfort the national party as President Joe Biden and other Democrats are expected to prioritize abortion rights in next year’s campaign to energize their voters.

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Republicans centered their messages around issues like lowering taxes, supporting parental involvement in schools, rolling back Democrat-sponsored clean energy mandates and improving public safety. On abortion, many GOP candidates in the most competitive swing districts coalesced around Youngkin’s proposed 15-week abortion ban with exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother.

The full slate of candidates ran for the first time this year under new maps created during the latest redistricting process. Flipping the Senate had been seen by most strategists in both parties as a tougher climb for Republicans than holding the House.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia Democrats picked up wins in critical state Senate battlegrounds Tuesday night, leaving them just one seat shy of an outright majority that would give the party continued leverage to blunt GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s conservative agenda.

Victories by Schuyler VanValkenburg in suburban Richmond and Russet Perry in northern Virginia, along with other Democratic wins, brought to at least 20 the number of seats the party will hold in the state’s 40-seat upper chamber, where the Republican lieutenant governor breaks ties. Other key Senate battlegrounds were too early to call.

The balance of power in the House of Delegates was also at stake Tuesday, with Democrats aiming to defy Youngkin’s hopes of a trifecta. While all 140 General Assembly seats were on the ballot in a costly and competitive election year, the majorities were expected to be decided in about a dozen districts in Hampton Roads, suburban Richmond and northern Virginia. Vote counting was still underway late Tuesday.

In a statement, VanValkenburg thanked his opponent, incumbent Sen. Siobhan Dunnavant, for her service but said: “Voters have chosen a new path forward with a bold vision for the future of Virginia. In the State Senate, I will continue to deliver on the issues that matter most to families in Henrico County.”

Candidates made their case to voters this cycle on the economy, the environment, public safety and schools, but no issue was more hotly contested than abortion in the last state in the South without new restrictions since the end of Roe v. Wade.

Democrats, including VanValkenburg and Perry, made protecting abortion access the centerpiece of their campaigns, while Republicans in many of the key swing districts coalesced around Youngkin’s pledge to try again for an abortion ban after 15 weeks with exceptions for rape, incest and situations where the mother’s life is at risk. Such legislation was defeated this year in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

Voters across the political spectrum said in interviews that the issue was top of mind.

James Burkhardt, 37, a software engineer from Henrico County outside Richmond, waited in a long line Friday to cast his ballot early. He supported two Democrats who emphasized protecting abortion access — Del. Rodney Willett, who won reelection to the House, and VanValkenburg.

Burkhardt said he could not understand Dunnavant’s support for putting new limits on abortion access, given her career. She is an OB-GYN who said she supports access to abortion through 15 weeks and afterward only in cases of rape, incest, severe fetal anomalies, and to save the mother’s life.

“It blows my mind that she could vote against women’s right to choose at any stage of their pregnancy what’s right for them,” he said.

Other voters said Youngkin had landed on a reasonable position.

Retiree Scott McKenzie, 78, voted early for Republicans in Virginia Beach. He said he’s comfortable with a 15-week ban and supports some of the same exceptions as Youngkin.

“On the one hand, I support right for life. But on the other hand, there’s times when a young lady maybe did not have a choice,” he said.

Candidates spent the run-up to Election Day hosting last-minute get-out-the-vote rallies and canvasses, and some were door-knocking even in the waning hours of voting Tuesday.

President Joe Biden, who won Virginia in 2020 by 10 percentage points and campaigned against Youngkin in the state in 2021, did not appear in person, but signed off on a fundraising email and endorsements.

Republicans are hoping their candidates benefit from the Democratic president’s persistently poor approval ratings, which are lower than Youngkin’s.

The governor headlined his party’s campaign events. He appeared with candidates in competitive districts statewide as part of a bus tour promoting an early voting initiative aimed at reversing years of GOP mistrust in the policy.

Speaking to reporters Tuesday evening at a suburban Richmond polling place, Youngkin said he hoped voters would extend Republicans’ “license to lead.”

“I’d ask folks to elect a House and elect a Senate that will work with me, not against me, so that we can continue to release this unbridled opportunity across the Commonwealth of Virginia,” Youngkin said after chatting with voters and handing out sample ballots.

He was not holding any public events as the results came in.

Other notable matchups Tuesday included an ultra-competitive Tidewater race between Democratic Senate incumbent Monty Mason and GOP challenger Danny Diggs, a retired longtime sheriff. The contest has featured particularly bitter TV ads, and is critical to Republican efforts to flip control of the Senate.

In Virginia’s Washington exurbs, another tight Senate race between Democratic Marine veteran Joel Griffin and GOP Del. Tara Durant also features Monica Gary, a wild-card independent candidate with a history of electoral success.

Democrat Danica Roem, a current member of the House of Delegates, defeated Republican Bill Woolf in a northern Virginia Senate district with a slight Democratic lean.

In her victory speech, Roem referred to her groundbreaking win in 2017 as a transgender woman: “Six years later they doubled, tripled and quadrupled down on transphobia in their closing message in this race. … And we won.”

In suburban Richmond, Democrat Susanna Gibson — who proceeded with her campaign after news broke that she had performed sex acts with her husband in live videos posted on a pornographic website — aims to prevail over Republican David Owen even after some party support wilted away following the controversy.

Other competitive House races are playing out in Hampton Roads, the exurban D.C. Interstate 95 corridor and one district south of Richmond.

Republicans generally saw a tougher path to flipping the Senate than holding the House under the new maps all legislative candidates are running under for the first time this year. During this year’s session, Republicans held a slim House majority, while Democrats narrowly controlled the Senate.

Also on the ballot were local school board and prosecutor races around the state, and a referendum in Richmond on whether to authorize a proposed casino.

Polls closed at 7 p.m. after a day of voting that seemed to proceed smoothly, with no reports from either party of major issues.

“Overall, it was a very successful election day in Virginia,” Susan Beals, commissioner of the Department of Elections, told reporters during an evening briefing.

The department does not yet have an estimate on turnout, but Beals said it was “healthy.”

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Associated Press writer Denise Lavoie in Henrico County contributed to this report, along with AP writer Ben Finley in Virginia Beach and Norfolk.

Sarah Rankin, The Associated Press