RICHMOND, Va. (Richmond Times Dispatch) — The battle for majority control of the House of Delegates has been fought to an apparent draw – no majority for either party.
Republicans appeared poised to regain control of the House on Tuesday, picking up five seats in unofficial vote counts, but falling short in key races in the Richmond area, Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia as votes cast early were counted late.
Democratic candidates declared victory in multiple races, many of them close, but Republicans conceded nothing as the House faces the potential prospect of power sharing by the parties for the first time since 1998.
“We feel good, all things considered,” said Sigalle Reshef, spokeswoman for House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn, D-Fairfax, shortly after midnight. “But we’re still waiting on the numbers.”
In the Richmond area, Del. Schuyler VanValkenburg won a third term in the 72nd House District over Republican challenger Chris Holmes in western Henrico County, and Del. Rodney Willett declared victory late Tuesday over Republican Mary Margaret Kastelberg in a hotly contested rematch in the adjoining 73rd District of western Henrico.
Similarly, Del. Dawn Adams, D-Richmond, also had trailed Republican Mark Earley, a newcomer with a familiar political name, in a district anchored by Chesterfield County and Richmond. Yet, Adams moved ahead by about 600 votes shortly before 10 p.m. and declared victory.
All three seats had been long held by Republicans in House districts that were part of an electoral map Republicans drew under political redistricting in 2001 and 2011, but Democrats flipped them in an electoral wave in 2017, the first in Virginia after Trump won the presidency.
Statewide, five Democrats lost their seats, according to projections by the Virginia Public Access Project. Del. Josh Cole, D-Fredericksburg, fell to Republican Tara Durant by about 700 votes in the district that had been represented by former House Speaker Bill Howell, R-Stafford, who retired in 2018 after 26 years in the House.