RICHMOND, Va. — It's been one week since Election Day when American voters gave control of the White House, Senate, and seemingly the House to the Republican Party.
While president-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office again in January, Virginia's state political parties are already gearing up for next year's election in the Commonwealth. While most states have time to breathe after presidential elections, Virginia has what are known as off-year elections.
With races in 2025 for the Virginia House of Delegates as well as Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General, political parties are looking to Tuesday's results for guidance.
"That gives us an indicator of those districts where we can pull out voters to vote next year and produce, from the Republican perspective, favorable outcomes," Republican Party of Virginia Chair Rich Anderson said.
Republican Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears and Democratic Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger have already declared intentions to run for Governor. Current Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin cannot run in this election as Virginia does not allow governors to serve consecutive terms.
Historically, the party not in the White House fares better in that contest, but Anderson said while Trump didn't carry Virginia, he did halve the Democratic margin of victory compared to 2020 and Republicans plan to build on that momentum.
"Whoever is in the White House, while that's a consideration, we will have the same aggressive ground game here in Virginia," Anderson said.
Youngkin said fellow Republicans fared well in 2024 by focusing on what's important to voters including border security, crime, and most of all the economy.
"Their jobs, their future. How much money are you taking out of their pockets, unnecessarily? And at the end of the day, it's about the economy, and it's about people's ability to be confident and to be able to provide for their families," Youngkin said. "The second is we must have safe communities. And what we've seen with the with the unfettered access into America through a wide open border, is Americans are concerned. They're concerned about the crime, they're concerned about the drugs, and they want it stopped and that is a state issue as well."
Democratic Delegate Mark Sickles expressed confidence that Spanberger could win in 2025 but said Democrats needed to get better at talking with working-class voters.
"[We need to] let them know what we're doing and talking about health care, child care, getting a quality education everywhere. Bread and butter issues, and I think at our level, people can relate more to what we're trying to do," Sickles said. "They generally don't think they're over-taxed in Virginia, because they can see where their money is going."
"I think that [Spanberger] will make an excellent candidate and I do agree that people will be open to her message more probably now than they would be if we'd had different results on Tuesday," he added.
CBS 6 Political Analyst Dr. Bob Holsworth said while history favored Democrats in Virginia, there was an opening for Republicans depending on Trump's first year in office.
"When Donald Trump was president in 2016, the next four years were a bonanza for the Democrats, because he was unpopular in Virginia," Holsworth said.
But before the 2025 races can finish Virginia will need to have two special elections to deal with the fallout of the 2024 elections.
A Democratic State Senator, Suhas Subramanyam, and a Republican, John McGuire, were both elected to Congress last week and elections will need to be held to fill their seats in the General Assembly.
Senate President Pro Tempore L. Louise Lucas said the election to replace Subramanyam will happen Jan. 7. Lucas has not yet called an election to replace McGuire’s seat.
If Republicans can keep McGuire's seat and flip Subramanyam's, it would give them control of the state Senate. Democrats only hold a 21-19 majority in that chamber and if it is deadlocked, the tie-breaking vote goes to Earl-Sears, a Republican.
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