Last Updated on November 8, 2023
Virginia Democrats won control of the state’s House of Delegates and expanded their control of the State Senate on Tuesday as voters went to the polls with every state legislature seat up for grabs in the first statewide test of Glenn Youngkin’s term as Governor. The big win for Democrats comes after Youngkin was blasted by his base for abandoning the issues that got him elected in the first place and after it was revealed that his Spirit of Virginia PAC refused to donate to several conservative Senate candidates.
Glenn Youngkin’s presidential ambitions appear dead in the water after Democrats seized complete control of both houses of the Virginia General Assembly in Tuesday’s elections, in which every state legislative seat as well as local offices were up for grabs.
Prior to Tuesday, Republicans held a slim majority in the House of Delegates, besting Democrats 48 seats to 46, with an additional 6 seats sitting vacant.
Democrats held a majority in the Senate, with 21 seats compared to 19 for Republicans.
On Tuesday, Youngkin’s Republicans not only lost control of the House of Delegates but had a net loss of 1 seat in the Virginia State Senate.
According to the current count, Democrats have won at least 51 seats in the House compared to 48 for Republicans, with one race undecided. Republican Kim Taylor leads there by less than 200 votes, according to the Virginia Public Access Project (VPAP).
In the Senate, Democrats have won 21 seats compared to 18 for Republicans. 1 race is still officially undecided, with Republican Danny Diggs leading by just over 1,000 votes. All precincts are reporting, according to VPAP.
For the first two years of Youngkin’s governorship, the Senate functioned as Democrats’ “brick wall,” blocking virtually all meaningful legislation backed by Youngkin and killing much of the campaign agenda he was elected on in 2021.
Going forward, with two years remaining in his term as Governor, it appears that agenda will continue to be blocked, now by both chambers of the General Assembly, and many of Youngkin’s critics are saying that’s exactly the way he wants it.
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As National File exclusively reported ahead of election day, Youngkin’s multi-million dollar Spirit of Virginia war chest shunned several conservative candidates throughout election season 2023, effectively surrendering their races to Democrats. Youngkin’s move followed in the footsteps of Kevin McCarthy, whose Congressional Leadership Fund gave conservatives the same treatment in 2022, botching the promised “red wave” that surfaced as a mere pink trickle, leaving the GOP with a thin House majority and tainting McCarthy’s short-lived speakership from the very beginning.