Democrats picked up at least two state Senate seats on Tuesday night, but the three pivotal Northern Virginia races that would determine control of the chamber had still not been decided hours after the polls closed.
The Democrats needed to gain four seats to gain a Senate majority and continue the party’s resurgence after its banishment to legislative irrelevance 1999.
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Democratic challenger Chap Petersen was leading Sen. Jeannemarie Devolites Davis, R-Vienna, by 17 percent with about half of the precincts reporting in the 34th district, which includes Fairfax City and Vienna. Two other contests — between Democrat Janet Oleszek and Sen. Ken Cuccinelli, R-Fairfax, and between Democrat George Barker and Sen. Jay O’Brien, R-Fairfax — were too close to call.
The districts the Democrats won early Tuesday night were in Virginia Beach, where Ralph Northam ousted incumbent Nick Rerras, and in Newport News, where Democrat John Miller claimed an open seat.
Democratic leaders, who gathered at the McLean Hilton to view the returns, were confident they would be celebrating a Senate majority later in the night.
“People respond well to candidates who will affirmatively address the problems voters are facing,” said U.S. Sen. Jim Webb.
John Hager, chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia, was pleased the GOP was on track to hold open Senate seats in Roanoke and was running a close race for another in Fredericksburg — which means the undecided Northern Virginia seats will likely determine the chamber’s majority party. Though pundits have predicted President Bush’s poor popularity rankings would doom Republicans running in the D.C. suburbs, Hager sounded optimistic his party would prevail.
“These are small losses for Republicans,” he said in a conference call with reporters. “We don’t like that, we like to win ‘em all, but they are within the margin of predictability.”
All the significant Northern Virginia races for the House of Delegates’ remained undecided late into the evening. Democrats at least cut the Republican advantage in that chamber to 15 seats with success in Virginia Beach, which had been a Republican stronghold. Republican incumbent John Welch lost to Bobby Mathieson, and Democrat Joe Boucher edged Republican Chris Stolle by less than 200 votes.
“In Pat Robertson’s backyard, Democrats won tonight,” said Del. Brian Moran, D-Alexandria.
If Democrats pick up just three seats, the Senate would be an even 20-20 split between the parties.
A divided Senate raises complicated political questions, starting with which party will run the chamber. Normally, the party in the majority controls each committee and decides each panel’s chairman. With no majority, figuring out who makes those decisions will becomplicated.
Republicans do have an ally in Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, who breaks tie votes when the chamber deadlocks on legislation. There is no recent precedent, however, that stipulating whether a lieutenant governor can break a tie on organizational votes, such as electing committee chairmen.
The Senate was last split 20-20 after the 1995 elections. Republicans and Democrats agreed on a power-sharing arrangement that ended when the GOP claimed a majority four years later. The power-sharing pact split committee chairmen posts between the parties and installed co-chairmen on the budget-writing Finance Committee. The parties also agreed that then-Lt. Gov. Don Beyer would not be able to cast tie-breaking votes.
