VIRGINIA (LifeSiteNews) – Democrats narrowly retook the Virginia House of Delegates while retaining the State Senate Tuesday, though Republicans performed strongly overall given expectations for a state holding a significant portion of federal employees and Capitol Hill lobbyists.
Democrats gained a 51-48 majority in the House, flipping it from 51-48 Republican control, and maintained their 21-19 majority in the Senate, making it harder than it already was for Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin to pursue conservative policies and enforce his existing ones with a split legislature.
While disappointing news to conservatives, a commentary by RedState explains that Democrat-led redistricting that took place in 2021 meant Republicans would always have an uphill battle in a full legislative takeover, and that even so, this week they actually won in every district previously carried by former President Donald Trump as well as every district that broke for President Joe Biden by up to nine points.
“There is no denying, though, that Republicans made a very strong push to do so on Tuesday and could be reasonably described as having overperformed. That’s been a rarely used word regarding Republicans the last several election cycles,” argues RedState front page contributor Bonchie. “At some point, the electoral realities of a state come into play. Youngkin’s win in 2021 was astonishing, but it was not a new baseline. Virginia is a blue state. That’s largely because its northern portion is heavily populated with federal employees, a demographic that is overwhelmingly liberal.”
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Republicans fared worse in a handful of high-profile local races. Liberals won a six-seat majority on the nine-member Loudoun County School Board, while the 12 candidates elected or re-elected to Fairfax County’s School Board are all Democrat-endorsed. Fairfax County is Virginia’s largest school district. Loudoun County is where policies to allow “transgender” students into opposite-sex bathrooms led to a student rape that was subsequently covered up by school officials, outrage about which was considered a significant factor to Youngkin’s election.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors will continue to have just one Republican member. Earlier in 2023, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted to give themselves a massive pay raise, which will take effect on January 1, 2024, as county residents continue to face crippling inflation and high property taxes.
Virginia’s first transgender legislator, Delegate Danica Roem, also won his bid for a state senate seat in western Prince William County.
Soros-backed Commonwealth Attorney defeated in Loudoun County
There were bright spots for conservatives, however. Also in Loudoun County, Republican Bob Anderson defeated Commonwealth Attorney Buta Biberaj, who was backed by leftist financier George Soros and accused of being soft on crime, most significantly by neglecting to file charges against the aforementioned bathroom rapist but instead charging the victim’s father with disorderly conduct for angrily confronting the school board about the situation.
Another win for social conservatives included the loss of pro-abortion Susanna Gibson in Virginia’s 57th House district. Gibson, a self-described “public health expert,” had uploaded videos of her performing sex acts with her husband to nearly 6,000 subscribers on a live-sex-streaming site and then accused Republicans of “the worst gutter politics” after the news of her videos broke.
Additionally, video went viral Tuesday of a GOP poll worker, later identified as Arlington Republican Party Chair Matthew Hurtt, being told by an irate Democrat voter, “You f***ing people tried to overthrow the election. You might as well have been walking up to my head on the way to the polling station, pointing a gun to my head, and trying to tell me not to vote. You expect me not to take that f***ing personally?”
The story behind this exchange, from Matthew Hurtt, chairman of the Arlington GOP and maker of this video: 'I was at my fourth polling location for the morning handing out Republican sample ballots. I had already talked to the Democratic poll greeters and a few voters when this… https://t.co/AU0lI90105
— Byron York (@ByronYork) November 7, 2023
Hurtt refused to engage as the man lingered, accusing him of racism and violence, threatening “I’m gonna f***ing remember you personally” and telling other voters Hurtt interacted with not to be friendly with him.
“I have filed a police report with local authorities regarding the gentleman in the video,” Hurtt later said. “I believe I can confirm his identity. I will not be doing that here on this platform.”
White, almost certainly rich liberal in Northern Virginia. Voter intimidation. GOP greeter doesn’t seem to be doing anything wrong, but cursing and threatening them for merely existing.
This is life in Northern Virginia, filled with liberal psychopaths. https://t.co/2zWZDceQ8h
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) November 7, 2023
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