Virginia Democrats sweep legislative elections, delivering a blow Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s plan for a GOP trifecta

Virginia Democrats who campaigned on defending abortion rights swept Tuesday’s legislative elections, retaking full management of the Common Meeting after two years of divided energy.

The end result is a pointy loss for Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who exerted an excessive amount of power, cash and political capital on an effort to safe a GOP trifecta.

Virginia is one among simply 4 states holding legislative races this 12 months, and it is one thing of a microcosm of different carefully divided states that shall be essential in subsequent 12 months’s presidential election. That has fueled outsized curiosity within the legislative races, as each events are carefully monitoring the outcomes for indicators about voter moods heading into the 2024 marketing campaign.

With a full statehouse majority, Democrats can have even better leeway to thwart Youngkin’s coverage agenda, although they should work with him to advance their very own.

Each Common Meeting seat was on the poll this 12 months, with essentially the most aggressive seats based mostly in Hampton Roads and the suburbs of Richmond and Washington. Democrats flipped the Home of Delegates and held the bulk they’ve had within the Senate since 2020.

Virginia Democrats largely centered their message to voters round pledges to guard abortion rights. Virginia is the one state within the South that has not enacted new restrictions on abortion because the U.S. Supreme Courtroom overturned Roe v. Wade final 12 months. The outcomes are sure to consolation the nationwide occasion as President Joe Biden and different Democrats are anticipated to prioritize abortion rights in subsequent 12 months’s marketing campaign to energise their voters.  

Republicans campaigned on points together with reducing taxes, supporting parental involvement in colleges, rolling again Democrat-sponsored clear power mandates and bettering public security. On abortion, many GOP candidates in essentially the most aggressive swing districts coalesced round Youngkin’s proposed 15-week abortion ban with exceptions for rape, incest and the lifetime of the mom.  

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