When I first got to D.C., in 2001, Virginia was the Republican state abutting the District and Maryland was the Democratic one. The Old Dominion had a GOP governor and two Republican senators, and even after Democrat Mark Warner became governor, it still seemed like a Republican lock for presidential elections — especially after 2004, when George W. Bush carried it by a comfortable eight-point margin.

Times have certainly changed. The Old Dominion now has two Democratic senators, Terry McAuliffe is governor, and it barely seems like a swing state anymore on the presidential level, having gone for Democrats three times in a row.