Andrew Emerson is an Associate for Holland & Knight's Washington, D.C. office.

Last night was an almost unprecedented night for Democrats in Virginia, and a shock to Republicans in the state and nationally. While results remain preliminary, it appears clear that Democrats made a clean sweep of the statewide offices, and, somewhat shockingly, may actually have tied, or taken outright control, of the Virginia House of Delegates.

As of yesterday morning, Democrats held 34 of 100 seats in the House of Delegates.  Based on a preliminary review of the returns last night, it appears possible that Democrats have sufficient margin to declare victory in 50 of those 100 seats.  In addition, in the 94th precinct, Republican Dave Yancey has a 12 vote lead over Shelly Simonds.  This margin (out of over almost 24,000 votes counted) almost guarantees a recount, so this may not be the final result.

Shelly A. Simonds 
Democratic

11,585

48.52%

David E. Yancey 
Republican

11,597

48.57%

The Virginia State Board Election Results are available on their web page.

In addition to the Virginia returns, Chris Murphy cruised to victory in New Jersey (55% to 42%), and Democrats won a clear majority of the State House and Senate races.  Returns Here

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