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Thepolitics of Virginia have followed major historical events and demographic changes in the commonwealth. In the 21st century, the northern region has become more liberal in attitudes and voting, constituting a reliable voting bloc for Democrats and joining population centers in the Richmond Metropolitan and Hampton Roads areas to dominate the state. Political orientation varies by region, with the larger cities and suburban areas voting Democratic and the rural areas voting Republican. The southern, rural regions have remained Republican.[1] Despite upset Republican victories in the2021 elections, Virginia is usually characterized as ablue state on the federal level,[2] having not elected a Republican president since2004 or a Republican senator since2002.
Eightpresidents of the United States were born in Virginia, more than any other state. In fact, four of the first five presidents were born within its boundaries.George Washington,Thomas Jefferson,James Madison,James Monroe,William Henry Harrison,John Tyler,Zachary Taylor, andWoodrow Wilson were all Virginians at birth. Numerous other influential politicians, such asPatrick Henry, an AmericanFounding Father, have also come from Virginia.[3]
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After theAmerican Civil War (1861–1865), Virginia was in political turmoil. 48 former counties now inWest Virginia were gone, soon to be joined by two more. The Commonwealth of Virginia unsuccessfully appealed to theU.S. Supreme Court. In the remaining area, many citizens, mostly males ofAfrican American heritage, were newly enfranchised to vote. Many others, primarily former Confederates, were initially disenfranchised.
Elections resumed after 5 years as a U.S. Military District, and control was chaotic. In the late 1870s, a coalition of Conservative Democrats, Republicans, and African Americans was assembled and theReadjuster Party took power for about 10 years. After U.S. SenatorWilliam Mahone and theReadjuster Party lost control of Virginia politics around 1883, white Democrats regained the state legislature. They proceeded to use statute and a new constitution in 1901, with provisions such as a poll tax, residency requirements, andliteracy test to disfranchise most African Americans and many poor whites. Their disfranchisement lasted until after the passage of civil rights legislation in the mid-1960s.
White Democrats created a one-party state, with a nearly unchallenged majority of state and most federal offices through the middle of the 20th century. TheByrd Organization headed byHarry F. Byrd Sr. largely controlled statewide politics. Through their leadership and activism in the Civil Rights Movement, African Americans gained national support for passage of theCivil Rights Act of 1964 and theVoting Rights Act of 1965, which provided Federal oversight and enforcement to maintain all citizens' ability to vote. Under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, decisions affecting elections are subject to preclearance by the U.S. Department of Justice before they can take effect.
President Lyndon Johnson's and national Democrats' support for civil rights turned many conservative whites in Virginia against the Democrats. However, many Virginians had been willing to support Republicans, at least at the national level, since the 1930s due toFranklin Roosevelt's strong support for organized labor. While the Republican Party in most of the South tended to attract right-wing conservatives likeJesse Helms andStrom Thurmond, Virginia's GOP has tended to be more moderate by regional standards. The state elected moderateRepublicanA. Linwood Holton Jr. in 1970; Holton became the first Republican governor in the 20th century, effectively ending the influence of the Byrd Organization. The currentVirginia State Constitution was created in 1971 to replace the discriminatory one created in 1901. Holton was succeeded by two other Republican governors: the more conservativeMills Godwin (a former Democrat) andJohn N. Dalton. Five-term U.S. SenatorJohn Warner and CongressmanTom Davis also exemplified the more "moderate-conservative" tendencies of Virginia Republicans. From 1982 through 1994, Democrats served as governor, withChuck Robb elected in 1981 andGerald L. Baliles in 1985. In 1989, Virginia elected DemocratDouglas Wilder governor, who served from 1990 to 1994, as Virginia's first African-American governor. In 2001, Virginia elected DemocratsMark Warner as governor andTim Kaine as lieutenant governor, and Kaine was elected to succeed Warner as governor in 2005. In 2009, however, a Republican again returned to the governor's mansion asBob McDonnell defeated Democrat Creigh Deeds, garnering 58.61% of the popular vote to Deeds' 41.25%. Republicans also managed to sweep all statewide races in 2009, the first time they accomplished this feat since 1997.
Virginia voted for Republicans in nearly every presidential election from 1952 to 2004 except for the Democratic landslide in President Johnson's election in1964. This former streak started whenRichard Nixon began theSouthern Strategy, and is the longest among the formerConfederate States. Virginia was the only such state to vote forGerald Ford overJimmy Carter in1976. Since 2008, Virginia has voted for Democrats in presidential elections, includingBarack Obama; in 2016 and 2024, Virginia was the only former Confederate state to vote forHillary Clinton andKamala Harris overDonald Trump.
Regional differences play a large part in Virginia politics.[4] Rural southern and western areas moved to support theRepublican Party in response to its "southern strategy", while urban and growing suburban areas, including much ofNorthern Virginia and recently,Richmond form theDemocratic Partybase.[5][6] Democratic support also persists in union-influencedRoanoke inSouthwest Virginia, college towns such asCharlottesville andBlacksburg, and the southeasternBlack Belt Region.[7] Enfranchisement and immigration of other groups, especially Hispanics, have placed growing importance on minority voting,[8] while voters that identify as "white working-class" declined by three percent between 2008 and 2012.[9] State election seasons traditionally start with the annualShad Planking event inWakefield.[10]
In 2007, theVirginia General Assembly proposedCivil Remedial Fees or "abusive driver fees" were fines that could exceed $1,000 for certainmoving violations. The proposal had gainedbi-partisan support as a way to generate revenue while not increasing taxes. Anonline petition to oppose the bill quickly gathered nearly 100,000 signatures.[11] These were repealed one year later in 2008 and fees were refunded.[12]
On February 28, 2023,President Joe Biden visited the city ofVirginia Beach in hopes of rallying support regarding affordable healthcare.[13][14]
Dozens of delegates run unopposed each election cycle, which led 2001 Libertarian gubernatorial candidate and former nationalLibertarian Party chairBill Redpath to conclude that "Virginia has a democracy that is uncompetitive and boring."[15] Redpath proposed eliminating the 40 single-member districts and have all state senators run statewide, with the top 40 candidates with the highest vote count getting elected. However, this proposal would give more power to the highly populated urban areas of the state, and thus has little chance of statewide support.[16]
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Virginia is part of theUnited States District Court for the Western District of Virginia and theUnited States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in the federal judiciary. The district's cases are appealed to the Richmond-basedUnited States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
Political party strength in Virginia has likewise been in flux. In the2007 state elections, Democrats regained control of theState Senate, and narrowed the Republican majority in theHouse of Delegates to eight seats.[17] Yetelections in 2009 resulted in the election of RepublicanBob McDonnell asGovernor by a seventeen-point margin, the election of a RepublicanLieutenant Governor andAttorney General, as well as Republican gains of six seats in the House of Delegates.[18] In 2011, the Republican caucus took over two-thirds (68–32) of the seats in the House of Delegates, and a majority of the Senate based on the Lieutenant GovernorBill Bolling as the tie-breaker.[19]
Unity control only lasted two years, andin the 2013 elections, DemocratTerry McAuliffe was elected Governor by two percentage points,[20][21] and DemocratRalph Northam was elected Lieutenant Governor by double digits.[22][23] Republicans, however, maintained their super-majority (68–32) in the House of Delegates.[22][24]
The2017 statewide elections resulted in Democrats holding the three highest offices, with outgoing lieutenant governorRalph Northamwinning the governorship,Justin Fairfax becoming the second African-Americanelected lieutenant governor, andMark Herringcontinuing as attorney general. Republicans meanwhile continued a statewide electoral drought that dates to McDonnell's 2009 gubernatorial victory. In concurrentHouse of Delegates elections, Democrats flipped fifteen of the Republicans' previous sixteen-seat majority.[25] Control of the House came down to the tied election in the94th district, which was won by Republicans through drawing of lots, giving them a 51–49 majority.[26]
In 2019, Democrats took full control of the state's legislature, flipping at least two state senate seats and five state house seats from Republican to Democratic candidates.[27][28]
In 2021, Republicans retook control of theHouse of Delegates, flipping at least seven seats from Democratic to Republican candidates. Additionally,Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, defeatedTerry McAuliffe in the governor's race, Virginia elected its first black female lieutenant governorWinsome Sears, a Republican, and elected Virginia's first Latino attorney general,Jason Miyares, a Republican.
In the2023 election, Democrats regained control of the House of Delegates — flipping three seats — and held onto the Senate.
| Year | Republican / Whig | Democratic | Third party(ies) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | |
| 1824 | 3,419 | 22.24% | 2,975 | 19.35% | 8,977 | 58.40% |
| 1828 | 12,070 | 31.01% | 26,854 | 68.99% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1832 | 11,436 | 25.03% | 34,243 | 74.96% | 3 | 0.01% |
| 1836 | 23,384 | 43.35% | 30,556 | 56.64% | 5 | 0.01% |
| 1840 | 42,637 | 49.35% | 43,757 | 50.65% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1844 | 44,860 | 46.95% | 50,679 | 53.05% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1848 | 45,265 | 49.20% | 46,739 | 50.80% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1852 | 58,732 | 44.29% | 73,872 | 55.71% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1856 | 0 | 0.00% | 90,083 | 59.96% | 60,150 | 40.04% |
| 1860 | 1,887 | 1.13% | 16,198 | 9.71% | 148,806 | 89.16% |
| 1872 | 93,463 | 50.47% | 91,647 | 49.49% | 85 | 0.05% |
| 1876 | 95,518 | 40.42% | 140,770 | 59.58% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1880 | 83,533 | 39.47% | 128,083 | 60.53% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1884 | 139,356 | 48.90% | 145,491 | 51.05% | 130 | 0.05% |
| 1888 | 150,399 | 49.46% | 152,004 | 49.99% | 1,684 | 0.55% |
| 1892 | 113,098 | 38.70% | 164,136 | 56.17% | 15,004 | 5.13% |
| 1896 | 135,379 | 45.94% | 154,708 | 52.50% | 4,587 | 1.56% |
| 1900 | 115,769 | 43.82% | 146,079 | 55.29% | 2,360 | 0.89% |
| 1904 | 48,180 | 36.95% | 80,649 | 61.84% | 1,581 | 1.21% |
| 1908 | 52,572 | 38.36% | 82,946 | 60.52% | 1,547 | 1.13% |
| 1912 | 23,288 | 17.00% | 90,332 | 65.95% | 23,356 | 17.05% |
| 1916 | 49,356 | 32.05% | 102,824 | 66.77% | 1,812 | 1.18% |
| 1920 | 87,456 | 37.86% | 141,670 | 61.33% | 1,873 | 0.81% |
| 1924 | 73,312 | 32.79% | 139,716 | 62.48% | 10,574 | 4.73% |
| 1928 | 164,609 | 53.91% | 140,146 | 45.90% | 603 | 0.20% |
| 1932 | 89,637 | 30.09% | 203,979 | 68.46% | 4,326 | 1.45% |
| 1936 | 98,336 | 29.39% | 234,980 | 70.23% | 1,274 | 0.38% |
| 1940 | 109,363 | 31.55% | 235,961 | 68.08% | 1,283 | 0.37% |
| 1944 | 145,243 | 37.39% | 242,276 | 62.36% | 966 | 0.25% |
| 1948 | 172,070 | 41.04% | 200,786 | 47.89% | 46,400 | 11.07% |
| 1952 | 349,037 | 56.32% | 268,677 | 43.36% | 1,975 | 0.32% |
| 1956 | 386,459 | 55.37% | 267,760 | 38.36% | 43,759 | 6.27% |
| 1960 | 404,521 | 52.44% | 362,327 | 46.97% | 4,601 | 0.60% |
| 1964 | 481,334 | 46.18% | 558,038 | 53.54% | 2,895 | 0.28% |
| 1968 | 590,319 | 43.36% | 442,387 | 32.49% | 328,785 | 24.15% |
| 1972 | 988,493 | 67.84% | 438,887 | 30.12% | 29,639 | 2.03% |
| 1976 | 836,554 | 49.29% | 813,896 | 47.96% | 46,644 | 2.75% |
| 1980 | 989,609 | 53.03% | 752,174 | 40.31% | 124,249 | 6.66% |
| 1984 | 1,337,078 | 62.29% | 796,250 | 37.09% | 13,307 | 0.62% |
| 1988 | 1,309,162 | 59.74% | 859,799 | 39.23% | 22,648 | 1.03% |
| 1992 | 1,150,517 | 44.97% | 1,038,650 | 40.59% | 369,498 | 14.44% |
| 1996 | 1,138,350 | 47.10% | 1,091,060 | 45.15% | 187,232 | 7.75% |
| 2000 | 1,437,490 | 52.47% | 1,217,290 | 44.44% | 84,667 | 3.09% |
| 2004 | 1,716,959 | 53.68% | 1,454,742 | 45.48% | 26,666 | 0.83% |
| 2008 | 1,725,005 | 46.33% | 1,959,532 | 52.63% | 38,723 | 1.04% |
| 2012 | 1,822,522 | 47.28% | 1,971,820 | 51.16% | 60,147 | 1.56% |
| 2016 | 1,769,443 | 44.43% | 1,981,473 | 49.75% | 231,836 | 5.82% |
| 2020 | 1,962,430 | 44.00% | 2,413,568 | 54.11% | 84,526 | 1.89% |
| 2024 | 2,075,085 | 46.05% | 2,335,395 | 51.83% | 95,461 | 2.12% |
In federal elections since 2006, both parties have seen successes. Republican SenatorGeorge Allen lost close races in2006, to Democratic newcomerJim Webb, and again in2012, to Webb's replacement, former GovernorTim Kaine.[30] In2008, Democrats won bothUnited States Senate seats; former Democratic GovernorMark Warner was elected to replace retiring RepublicanJohn Warner (no relation).[31] The state went Republican in 11 out of 12presidential elections from 1948 to 2004, including 10 in a row from 1968 to 2004. However, DemocratBarack Obama carried Virginia's 13electoral votes in both the2008 and2012 presidential elections.[9]
In the2010 elections, Republicans won threeUnited States House of Representatives seats from the Democrats. Of the state'seleven seats in the House of Representatives, Democrats and Republicans both hold five, with one vacant seat. The state is considered moderately blue-leaning, a trend that moves parallel with the growth of the Washington D.C. and Richmond suburbs but has been recognized as a swing state by some in light of the 2021 GOP wave.[32][33][34] A Federal District Court redrew the malapportioned 3rd District as violating the Voting Rights Act for the 2016 election. That allowed Virginians to choose an additional Representative from the 4th District, and added one to the Democratic total.[35] In the 2018 elections, Democrats flipped 3 seats and obtained a 7–4 majority for the first time since 2008. In the 2022 elections, Democrats lost one of those seats in the 2nd district and were reduced to 6–5.
In 2006, a statewidereferendum on theMarshall-Newman Amendment added a provision to the Bill of Rights of theVirginia Constitution banninggay marriage; it passed with 57% of the vote. The amendment was later ruled unconstitutional in 2014, in the case ofBostic v. Schaefer.
