Just one vote... That’s what it took to break the GOP’s 17-year majority in Virginia’s House of Delegates, leaving the state’s Democrats with 50 seats in the legislative chamber.
Delegate Shelly Simonds (D-Virginia) defeated three-term incumbent House Delegate David Yancy (R-Virginia) by one vote in Newport News Virginia's 94th District race. The recount followed the results of an election previously held on November 7, according to unofficial recount results, Executive Director of the Virginia House Democratic Caucus Trent Armitage said, WTOP reported.
The recount was conducted after Yancy previously appeared to win the election by a margin of only 10 votes. Simonds requested a recount within weeks.
With Simonds’ win, Democrats and Republicans now split evenly the number of seats in Virginia’s House of Delegates. The race, however, is not completely over, as a three-judge panel will need to certify the results Wednesday morning. Election officials stated, though, that there were no contested ballots, WTKR reported.
During the recount, election officials scanned almost 24,000 votes, and wrote the results by precinct on a whiteboard.
Republicans in the Virginia House of Delegates downplayed their loss. “As we have said for the last six weeks, we are committed to leading and governing alongside our colleagues,” the party said, according to WTKR.
Going into the 2017 elections, Republicans had a two-thirds majority in the state's legislature, and had been in the majority party for 17 years. The state’s Senate is majority Republican, while the state’s top office bearers are all Democrats: Governor Terry McAuliffe and US Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner.
Simonds, who is a school board member, said her win was part of a “wave election” and stated that she caught the tail end of it in Newport News.
“The citizens of Virginia sent a big message that they’re ready for a change of pace, a change of heart on things like health care and things that really matter day to day to the families in Virginia,” Simonds said, according to WTOP.
"I'm thrilled," she added, according to WTKR. "I'm just thinking about all of the possibilities, all of the things we can get done in Richmond."
After Simonds’ victory is sealed by the three-judge panel Wednesday, the Democrats' membership in the House of Delegates will increase to 50, tying the GOP. However, two other recounts from previous elections in the state will decide the final tally of majority power in the House.
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Recounts for the 28th District in Stafford County, Fredericksburg County and the 68th District in Richmond, are scheduled for later this week.
As Democrats rise to tie the GOP in the state’s legislature, and look to gain ground in a state that has been controlled by the GOP for many years, on a national level, the Democrats have had more success.
In the 2012 presidential election, former President Barack Obama, a Democrat, defeated Republican Mitt Romney to claim the state’s 13 electoral votes. And former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, also a Democrat, won the state of Virginia over current President Donald Trump, a Republican, on her way to claiming the state’s 13 electoral votes in the 2016 presidential election.