In the wake of the Blue Tsunami that crashed through Virginia on election night in November 2017, the state’s Democrats found their political fortunes in the House of Delegates dramatically transformed. …
With two post-Trump elections behind them, both of which had produced large turnout surges for Democrats and sympathetic Independents aligning with Democrats, Republicans already faced an uphill battle defending their General Assembly majorities this year. Then, the federal courts struck down 11 House of Delegates districts due to racial gerrymandering. The court-ordered revisions affected the boundaries of 25 districts and made additional Democratic Party pick-ups even more likely. Several Republicans strategically retired.
It is hard to illustrate how much the Republican Party’s electoral fortunes have changed in the Commonwealth in just four years, since the last off-, off-year state legislative election cycle – when no statewide candidates appear on the ballot. CONT.
Rachel Bitecofer, Christopher Newport U.