Democrats Win Big in Virginia 2nd Congressional District

By Danielle Zielinski

It was a blue Election Day in Virginia, as the state's voters supported a Democratic presidential candidate for the first time in 44 years, Democrat Mark Warner overwhelmingly won election to the U.S. Senate and first-time candidate Glenn Nye, also a Democrat, upset incumbent Representative Thelma Drake.

With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Democratic Senator Barack Obama edged out Republican Senator John McCain in the Virginia 2nd Congressional District by just hundreds of votes - 123,888 to 123,605, according to data from the Virginia State Board of Elections.

The Hampton Roads area - as the Virginia 2nd's region is commonly called - backed George Bush in the past two presidential races, but emerged as Virginia's key swing region this fall and received several visits from both candidates. The narrow victory Obama pulled off in Hampton Roads, coupled with wide margins of victory in populous northern Virginia counties, allowed him to carry the state.

"We're no longer red; we're purple and shades of blue," Mark Rozell, a George Mason University political scientist, told the local newspaper, the Virginian-Pilot.

In U.S. politics, states that tend to vote Democratic are called "blue states," while those that vote Republican are called "red states."

SENATE, HOUSE RACES

Overall, 250,230 people voted in the Virginia 2nd, according to the Board of Elections - a number that represents 64 percent of the district's "active voters" and 62 percent of voters overall. The high turnout meant long lines at Hampton Roads precincts, where some voters waited up to seven hours to cast ballots November 4.

Warner's victory was projected by the networks early in the evening, before even 1 percent of precincts had reported their results. According to the Board of Elections, at the end of the night with 99 percent of precincts reporting, 64 percent of voters in the Virginia 2nd had cast their ballots for Warner, while 34 percent chose his Republican opponent, James Gilmore.

"I could not have done this without your help and countless thousands of other Virginians all across the state who got involved in this campaign," Warner told supporters in a video posted on his Web site shortly after the results were announced. "Our record margin tonight shows that Virginians - and Americans - want a senator who's going to go to Washington, find common ground, and get stuff done."

Gilmore's defeat was the most lopsided loss suffered by a Virginia Republican since 1988, when Democrat Chuck Robb defeated Maurice Dawkins for a Senate seat. Warner's win, coupled with Jim Webb's victory over George Allen two years ago, gives Virginia two Democrats in the U.S. Senate for the first time since 1972. Democrats have also won the past two gubernatorial elections.

In the race for a seat in the U.S House of Representative, according to the Board of Elections, Democratic challenger Nye narrowly defeated Republican incumbent Drake, giving the Virginia 2nd House seat to a Democrat for the first time since 2000.

Nye, a former Foreign Service officer, appealed to the Virginia 2nd's large base of military voters, and likely got some help from the Democratic coattails of Obama and Warner. Drake, with 13 years in elected office and an army of loyal supporters, raised more money during the campaign, but an infusion of money from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee propelled Nye's final push.

LOCAL CONTESTS

Local races in the Virginia 2nd were also close.

It appears that Meyera Oberndorf's two decades as mayor of Virginia Beach will end. Bank president and former Vice Mayor Will Sessoms received 66,914 votes to Oberndorf's 56,878 votes, getting 40 percent of the vote to her 34 percent. John Moss, a former City Council member who appealed to conservatives, got 16 percent of the vote, and Navy SEAL Scott Taylor took 10 percent.

In the race for the Virginia Beach City Council, three incumbents retained their seats. At-large councilwoman Rosemary Wilson, Harry Diezel in the Kempsville district, and Bob Dyer in the Centerville district will all return. Reba McClanan, who was first elected to the Council 28 years ago, lost her Rose Hall district seat to 34-year-old Glenn Davis. (See "Virginia Election Board Counters Attempts to Mislead Voters ( http://www.america.gov/st/elections08-english/2008/October/20081030113511abretnuh0.6945917.html ).")

These local races are just a handful among the thousands of local offices filled nationwide by voters in the 2008 U.S. elections.

This article is part of America.gov's coverage of seven of the 435 U.S. congressional districts during the 2008 campaign. Each offers a different prism through which to view U.S. politics. For more information, see U.S Elections - State and Local ( http://uspolitics.america.gov/uspolitics/elections/stateandlocal.html ).

Source: U.S. Department of State