Virginia

Democrats see historic gains in Virginia’s House of Delegates races

Published

6 months ago

on

November 5, 2025

By

Press Room

Democrats see historic gains in Virginia’s House of Delegates races

By 10 p.m. on election night, just three hours after polls closed, Democrats had flipped nearly one dozen seats from Republican incumbents.

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Cardinal covered races across Southwest and Southside. For more election stories, click here.

By 11:30 p.m., they had picked up two more.

The party picked up seats from the city of Roanoke to Petersburg to Spotsylvania County and Northern Virginia and others, after they knocked out incumbents in 13 districts.

House of Delegates District 41 was among those that flipped from red to blue. Democratic challenger Lily Franklin had a 2.46 percentage point lead over incumbent Republican Del. Chris Obenshain, of Montgomery County, by 10:45 p.m.

This year’s race for the 41st District was a rematch between Obenshain and Franklin after the latter lost by 183 votes in 2023 once provisional ballots were counted. That race was not called until nearly one week after Election Day.

“Lily Franklin ran a spirited campaign. She earned a lot of votes, and she has earned my respect,” Obenshain said in his concession statement. “Tonight was a setback not just for me, but also for the causes I have championed and the people I have sought to represent. Ultimately though, the voters have the final word and while this result is disappointing, I respect their decision tonight.”

In a statement released Tuesday evening, Franklin said, “I’m deeply honored by the trust the people of the 41st District have placed in me. Folks are ready for new leadership.”

“Virginians turned out in force to support candidates who embody the very best of who we are – champions of fairness and truth over the forces of bigotry and deceit,” state Sen. Lamont Bagby, chair of the Democratic Party of Virginia, said in a statement.

Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger will enter office with a trifecta, with the governor’s seat, the state Senate and House of Delegates all under the same party. She will be the first Democratic governor to do so in nearly 40 years, according to the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee.

“Democrats, we’re back,” said House of Delegates Speaker Don Scott during a speech in Richmond on election night. “Tonight we shocked the world.”

The Portsmouth Democrat added that Virginia sent a message of love and unity over hate and division to the country.

“We just made history tonight. … Not only did we keep the majority in the House tonight, I think we’re at 57 seats. And we’re not done counting,” he said just before 10 p.m. on election night.

Here’s how the rest of Virginia’s Southwest and Southside House of Delegates races shook out

The political makeup of Southwest and Southside Virginia remained largely unchanged.

Most incumbents held onto their seats, and new Republican candidates for open seats in districts 46 and 49 won their elections: Mitchell Cornett won Del. Jed Arnold’s seat, and Madison Whittle won Del. Danny Marshall’s seat. Arnold, of Smyth County, did not seek reelection, citing his wife’s health concerns. Marshall, of Danville, declined to seek reelection to undergo lung transplant surgery. He is currently recovering from that surgery.

District 35 winner: incumbent Republican Del. Chris Runion, Rockingham County

District 36 winner: incumbent Republican Del. Ellen Campbell, Waynesboro

District 37 winner: incumbent Republican Del. Terry Austin, Botetourt County

District 38 winner: incumbent Democratic Del. Sam Rasoul, Roanoke

District 39 winner: incumbent Republican Del. Will Davis, Franklin County

District 40 winner: incumbent Republican Del. Joe McNamara, Roanoke County

District 41 winner: Democratic challenger Lily Franklin (seat flipped)

District 42 winner: incumbent Republican Del. Jason Ballard, Giles County

District 43 winner: incumbent Republican Del. Will Morefield, Tazewell County

District 44 winner: incumbent Republican Del. Israel O’Quinn, Washington County

District 45 winner: incumbent Republican Del. Terry Kilgore, Scott County

District 46 winner: Republican Mitchell D. Cornett

District 47 winner: incumbent Republican Del. Wren Williams, Patrick County

District 48 winner: incumbent Republican Del. Eric Phillips, Henry County

District 49 winner: Republican Madison Whittle

District 50 winner: incumbent Republican Del. Tommy Wright, Lunenburg County

District 51 winner: incumbent Republican Del. Eric Zehr, Campbell County

District 52 winner: incumbent Republican Del. Wendell Walker, Lynchburg

District 53 winner: incumbent Republican Del. Tim Griffin, Bedford County

District 56 winner: incumbent Republican Del. Tom Garrett, Louisa County

Virginia

Virginia Supreme Court voids voter-approved redistricting referendum

Published

10 hours ago

on

May 11, 2026

By

Press Room

Virginia Supreme Court voids voter-approved redistricting referendum

On May 8, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that the General Assembly violated the state constitution when it tried to redraw congressional districts, nullifying the results of the April election in which Virginians narrowly approved redistricting.

Electoral maps are usually redrawn once every 10 years, but multiple states began redrawing them early after President Donald Trump urged Republicans to redraw district lines to ensure more favorable results for the party in the November 2026 elections.

This started a nationwide political battle for control of the U.S. House of Representatives. Texas was the first of several states to redraw districts favoring Republicans, and Virginia Democrats had proposed a constitutional amendment to allow redistricting in order to favor Democrats.

As of May 8, Republicans had initiated redistricting efforts in eight states; Democrats had led redistricting efforts in three states, including Virginia, the Washington Post reported.

In April, Virginia voters supported the redistricting amendment with 51.7% voting for it out of more than 3 million ballots cast. It could have given Democrats up to four extra seats in the U.S. House, according to the Washington Post (subscription required).

But the Virginia Supreme Court, in a 4-3 ruling, found that there were procedural errors in how the Democratic legislature handled the process, nullifying the election results.

The Virginia Constitution says that proposed constitutional amendments must pass in the General Assembly twice before the public can vote on them: once before an election of the House of Delegates, and again after an election. According to the Virginia Supreme Court majority opinion written by Justice D. Arthur Kelsey, early voting for the general election had already been open for six weeks when the General Assembly cast its first vote on the amendment in October 2025, with more than 1.3 million voters having already cast their ballots.

“This violation irreparably undermines the integrity of the resulting referendum vote and renders it null and void,” the court majority opinion stated.

The court’s ruling means the state reverts to the old district maps adopted in 2021. Based on those maps, Virginia voters elected six Democrats and five Republicans to the U.S. House.

Following the court’s ruling, some Virginia Democrats who planned to run for the U.S. House told the New York Times that they have to abandon their campaigns, while others, such as Tom Perriello who is running for the 5th District, face much more difficult campaigns.

Virginia Democrats on Friday asked the court to pause the nullification of the referendum results while they prepare their appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, according to VPM.

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