Virginia 2011 Election Results

Virginia held its general election on November 8, 2011, deciding 140 legislative seats. Control shifted: the Senate moved from a 22-18 Democratic majority to a 20-20 power-sharing tie.

Highlights

• The tie handed Republicans the Senate: because Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling (R) breaks tie votes, the chamber would organize under a Republican majority. With the House and the governorship already in Republican hands, the party took full control of state government.
• Republicans gained two Senate seats, both from Democratic incumbents, while Democrats narrowly held several others:
  • In Senate District 17, Bryce Reeves (R) beat Sen. R. Edward "Edd" Houck (D), a 28-year Senate veteran, by 226 votes. The margin was close enough for a recount, but Houck conceded two days after the election.
  • In Senate District 20, Sen. Bill Stanley (R), who represented the 19th District, opted to challenge Sen. Roscoe Reynolds (D) and unseated him by about 640 votes, with independent W. Jeff Evans (I) drawing nearly 3,900.
  • Sen. John Miller (D) held Senate District 1 by about 1,200 votes, and Sens. Phillip Puckett (D) (Senate District 38) and George Barker (D) (Senate District 39) each won by about 6 points.
• Republicans grew their House of Delegates majority from 60-39-1 to 67-32-1, more than two-thirds of the seats, giving Speaker Bill Howell (R) the largest Republican majority ever in the chamber. Three Democratic delegates lost:
  • House Minority Leader Ward L. Armstrong (D) lost House District 9 to Del. Charles Poindexter (R) by about 5 points after the new GOP-drawn map put him in a district with a Republican incumbent.
  • Richard Lee Morris (R) beat Del. William K. Barlow (D) by about 11 points in House District 64.
  • Michael Watson (R) beat Del. Robin A. Abbott (D) by about 570 votes in House District 93.
• The closest legislative race was in House District 87, where David Ramadan (R) beat Michael David Kondratick (D) by 51 votes. Most seats were uncontested: 77 of the 140 legislative races had only one candidate.

Legislature

• House of Delegates (100 seats): 39 D, 59 R, 2 other or vacant before the election, 32 D, 67 R, 1 other or vacant after; control stayed with Republicans.
• Senate (40 seats): 22 D, 18 R before the election, 20 D, 20 R after; control moved from Democrats to Power_Sharing.

Legislative races