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Election Results Recap

November 4, 2009

Below you will find a memo from my colleague Ben Dendy which provides additional details on the Election Results that I sent to you this morning. If these results hold, the Republicans will hold a 59-39-2 majority in the House with the two independents caucusing with the Republicans and giving them an effective 12 vote majority. Please let me know if you have any further questions on this. Thanks. Phil

Tuesday was a very good day for Virginia Republicans. A tradition which began in 1977 continued with Virginians choosing their Governor from the opposite party of the President elected in the previous year. This election, however, was a victory for the Republicans of landslide proportions. Virginia voters appeared to have “buyer’s remorse” about President Obama. There appeared to be a concern about expansive Federal initiatives proposed in health care and climate control and the increasing Federal deficit.

More importantly, former Attorney General Robert McDonnell ran a very strong campaign. He focused on job creation and addressing the economic challenges many Virginians face. Attorney General McDonnell while having a strong conservative record projected a moderate image and ran a very disciplined campaign. He very effectively reversed Democratic victories of the last decade. He won with strong united support from the business community, many of whose members had supported the last two Democratic Governors. McDonnell won with almost 59%. Republican Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling was re-elected with 56% and Senator Ken Cuccinelli the Republican candidate for Attorney General was elected with 57.5%. McDonnell carried his whole ticket to victory and helped House Republicans to pick up six seats in the House.

Democrats like Senator Mark Warner, Senator Jim Webb and Governor Tim Kaine in recent elections have run up huge margins in Northern Virginia which have more than overcome Democratic losses in the other parts of the state. The Republicans were able to reverse this trend this year with Bob McDonnell actually carrying the largest jurisdiction in Northern Virginia and the state, Fairfax County, a jurisdiction that John Kerry carried for President fairly substantially. Loudoun County and Prince William County in Northern Virginia, which had trended Democratic in recent statewide elections, returned to the Republican fold.

Under the leadership of Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford County), the Republicans had big wins in the House and significantly boosted their majority winning a net gain of six seats. The House Republicans clearly out recruited the Democrats in identifying strong candidates to take on incumbent Democrats particularly in Northern Virginia, where the House Republicans had suffered significant losses in recent election cycles. With the unofficial results the Republicans have defeated the following incumbents:

Delegate Margaret Vanderhye (D-Fairfax County)

Delegate Chuck Caputo (D-Fairfax County)

Delegate Joseph Bouchard (D-Virginia Beach)

Delegate Bobby Mathieson (D-Virginia Beach)

Delegate Danny Bowling (D-Tazewell County)

Delegate David Poisson (D-Loudoun County)

Delegate Paul Nichols (D-Prince William County)

Delegate Shannon Valentine (D-Lynchburg)

Significantly four of these victories came in Northern Virginia. Seven of these eights seats are seats won by Democrats over the last four years but previously held by Republicans. The House Republicans have now taken them back.

The Democrats took two seats previously held by the Republicans.

The only incumbent Republican who lost was Delegate Philip Hamilton (R-Newport News), a budget conferee and Chairman of the House Health Welfare and Institutions Committee, who faced ethics charges. Democrats also picked up the seat of retiring Delegate Jeff Frederick (R-Prince William County), who was removed earlier this year as Chairman of the Virginia Republican Party. Taking this seat is the first African American legislator to be elected from Northern Virginia in a number of years, Luke Torian. It is important to emphasize that some of these races remain very close and could change in recounts but the overall impact will not change: the Republicans will pick up significant seats in the House. The closet race is Virginia Beach City Councilman Ron Villanueva defeating Delegate Bobby Mathieson by sixteen votes.

A number of the House Republicans who were considered to have difficult races were re-elected in landslides including Delegate Danny Marshall (R-Danville), Delegate Anne Crockett-Stark (R-Wythe County) and Delegate Thomas Gear (R-Hampton). Two Northern Virginia House Republicans, who faced serious challenges won comfortably, Delegate Tom Rust (R-Herndon) and Delegate David Albo (R-Fairfax County).

At this point the new members of the House will be:

Bill Cleaveland (R-Botetourt County), replacing retiring Delegate William Fralin (R-Roanoke).

James W. Morefield (R-Tazewell County), defeating Delegate Danny C. Bowling (D-Tazewell County).

Virginia Beach City Councilman Ron Villanueva (R-Virginia Beach) defeating Delegate Bobby Mathieson (D-Virginia Beach).

Lynchburg City Councilman Scott Garrett (R-Lynchburg) defeating Delegate Shannon Valentine (D-Lynchburg).

Thomas (“Tag”) Greason (R-Loudoun County) defeating Delegate David Poisson (D-Loudoun County).

Barbara Comstock (R-McLean) defeating Delegate Margaret Vanderhye (D-McLean).

Mark Keam (D-Fairfax County) replacing Delegate Steve Shannon (D-Fairfax County) who resigned his seat to run for Attorney General.

Richard Anderson (R-Prince William County) defeating Delegate Paul Nichols (D-Prince William County).

Luke Torian (D-Prince William County) replacing retiring Delegate Jeff Frederick (R-Prince William County).

James LeMunyon (R-Fairfax County) defeating Delegate Chuck Caputo (D-Fairfax County).

Chris Stolle (R-Virginia Beach) defeating Delegate Joseph Bouchard (D-Virginia Beach).

Robin Abbott (D-Newport News) defeating Delegate Phillip Hamilton (R-Newport News).

John Cox (R-Hanover County) replacing retiring Delegate Frank Hargrove (R-Hanover County).

Betsy Carr (D-Richmond) replacing Delegate Franklin Hall (D-Richmond), recently appointed to the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board.

Matthew James (D-Portsmouth) replacing Delegate now Judge Kenneth Melvin (D-Portsmouth).

Dickie Bell (R-Staunton) replacing retiring Delegate Chris Saxman (R-Staunton).

Kaye Kory (D-Fairfax County) defeating Delegate Robert Hull (D-Fairfax County) in the primary.

Scott Surovell (D-Fairfax County) replacing retiring Delegate Kris Amundson (D-Fairfax County).

Patrick Hope (D-Smyth replacing retiring Delegate Al Eisenberg (D-Arlington County).

James Edmunds (R-Halifax County) replacing retiring Delegate Clarke Hogan (R-Halifax County).

There will clearly be significant turnover in the House. At this point 20 of 100 members of the House will be freshmen. This is an usually large turnover for any election, not the first after a redistricting, which is the next election in 2011. The Republicans will enjoy a more comfortable majority in the House and there will be quite a few new faces on the committees. Republicans can be expected to pick up at least one seat on each of the committees. The Senate has a narrow Democratic majority with two Republican senators leaving seats to be filled by special elections. Rumors are beginning that the new Governor will try to attract a Democratic senator to his administration and pick up a seat in a special election to bring parity or a majority to the Senate for the Republicans. This may be a difficult goal for the new Governor.


Philip F. Abraham
Director and General Counsel
The Vectre Corporation
823 East Main St., Suite 1700 (NOTE NEW ADDRESS)
Richmond, VA 23219