With little room for error, Virginia Democrats were struggling Tuesday to stave off a Republican takeover of the state Senate.
Republicans challenged 16 Democratic Senate incumbents in their quest to control the legislative and executive branches for the first time since 2001, and by late Tuesday they had won one seat with a second seat still too close to call.
The GOP needed at least two seats to take effective control of the Senate, the last bastion of Democratic power in Richmond.
The sole Republican gain came from the Southside of the state where Bill Stanley defeated Democratic Sen. Roscoe Reynolds by fewer than 1,000 votes in a three-way race in which conservative independent Jeff Evans got about 7 percent of the vote.
| Virginia Elections 2011: Updated results and coverage |
Longtime Democratic Sen. Edd Houck of Spotsylvania was trailing Republican Bryce Reeves by fewer than 100 votes in a second race that was close enough to potentially trigger a recount.
Democratic Sen. Phil Puckett in Southwest Virginia, who distanced himself from President Obama in the weeks leading up to the election and became a frequent target of Republican attacks, also managed a close victory.
Several Northern Virginia races were too close to call with precincts in voter-heavy Fairfax County still counting, but Democrats had solid leads.
| Virginia Elections 2011: Related story |
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If the results hold, Democrats will have a narrower 21-19 Senate majority when the General Assembly meets in January — down from the current 22-18 majority — but they’ll at least have a seat at the negotiating table on bills coming from the Republican-led House of Delegates and Gov. Bob McDonnell’s office.
McDonnell, who ran on a fiscally conservative agenda in 2009, must now continue to work with Democrats in Richmond during his final two years in office. Unlike most states, Virginia governors can serve only one term. McDonnell pushed hard for a Republican victory, pumping $3.6 million from his Opportunity Virginia PAC into legislative races and campaigning hard for candidates around the state.
Democrats only challenged three Republicans and lost them all.
Since the end of the 19th century, Democrats have controlled the Virginia Senate for all but eight years, 1999 to 2007, and, if Tuesday’s results hold, that streak would remain intact through 2013.
Republicans picked up at least six seats in the House of Delegates and scored a major victory when Del. Charles Poindexter knocked off Minority Leader Ward Armstrong in a district the GOP intentionally drew to challenge Armstrong. Heading into the elections, Republicans had a 61-39 lead in the House with two independents caucusing with the GOP.
The news that Democrats fended off the Republican takeover bodes well for Obama, who already has troops on the ground in Virginia preparing for his 2012 run to combat dismal approval ratings in a state that is becoming increasingly critical to his re-election bid. Obama was the first Democrat to win Virginia in more than 50 years, but Republicans had good fortune of late, taking the governor’s mansion in 2009 and picking up three congressional seats in 2010.
