RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Republicans in Virginia have ample reason to celebrate this election season, with Republican candidates emerging victorious in the race for the governor’s mansion and picking up at least five seats in the House of Delegates.
Democrats are still holding out for all ballots to be counted in two races that have not yet been called, but Republican leaders say they’ve obtained an outright majority in the House of Delegates.
The Republican success came in part due to two races in Central Virginia, where Republican candidates unseated longtime Democratic delegates.
The races were unusual because both only recently became competitive.
Delegate Roz Tyler, who represented District 75 since 2006, handily defeated Republican opponents in 2011 and 2013, and ran unopposed in 2015 and 2017.
Then, in 2019, she faced H. Otto Wachsmann, a local pharmacist, and won by just 500 votes. Wachsmann ran again this year, beating Tyler by over 1,400 votes.
And in the District 63, Lashrecse Aird faced an unexpected challenger. No Republican had been nominated in the district since at least 2013, and since Aird took office in 2016, she had run unopposed in two of three elections, defeating an independent opponent in 2019.
But challenger Kim Taylor beat Aird this year by a narrow margin of 700 votes.
While Republicans may have taken a majority in the House of Delegates, Democrats maintain a one-seat majority in the state Senate, which will not be reshuffled until 2023.
