Virginia holds primary elections for legislature

Trip Gabriel

June 12, 2019 10:21 AM

Republicans’ last redoubt in Virginia is the General Assembly. The party has two-seat majorities in both the Senate and House of Delegates.

Virginia holds primary elections for legislature

Voters in Virginia cast their ballots Tuesday in primary elections for all 140 seats in the state Legislature, selecting nominees for a November election that will see Democrats try to strengthen their grip on the state’s politics.

Virginia has seen a shift over the last generation from a conservative Southern enclave to a state that leans Democratic, driven by demographic change in the booming suburbs of Richmond and Northern Virginia. Democrats now control every statewide office and both U.S. Senate seats.

The most notable result Tuesday appeared to be the Democratic race in the 16th Senate District, which includes parts of Richmond, where Joseph Morrissey defeated the incumbent, state Sen. Rosalyn R. Dance. Morrissey had previously served in the House of Delegates before resigning in 2014, after he pleaded guilty to charges related to sleeping with his 17-year-old receptionist, whom he later married.

Republicans’ last redoubt in Virginia is the General Assembly. The party has two-seat majorities in both the Senate and House of Delegates.

Republicans, who have hoped to gain from a racism scandal that engulfed the Democratic governor, Ralph Northam, may come up short because of new court-ordered district maps.

Twenty-five House seats were redrawn after a federal court ruled they were racial gerrymanders. A half-dozen Republican-held seats are now more favorable to Democrats. Republicans have appealed to the Supreme Court.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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