Democrats retain control of the General Assembly after special elections put it up for grabs

By Nick Mossman, Richmond Capital News Service

Democrats will hold control of the Virginia Senate and House of Delegates after three special elections had the potential to flip the chambers.

The elections were held on Tuesday night to fill three vacancies in the General Assembly created after the general election in November.

Prominent Republicans, including Gov. Glenn Youngkin and U.S. Rep. Jen Kiggans, were hoping that the two seats up for grabs in Loudoun County would round out a Republican trifecta in Virginia.

“We have two seats on the ballot that could flip the Virginia House and Senate if we win!” Kiggans wrote in an Instagram post Tuesday morning.

Currently, Democrats control the Virginia Senate by a slim margin with just 21 seats compared to the Republicans’ 19. The House of Delegates is similarly close at 51 seats for Democrats and 49 seats for Republicans. 

In a post on X from the Loudoun County Republican Party about 2 hours before polls closed, the group wrote “Get out and vote for @RamforVA and @TumayforVA! VA hangs in the balance.”

If Republicans flipped the Loudoun Senate seat, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears would have served as the tie breaking vote, flipping control of the chamber. A 50-50 House of Delegates would have resulted in no party having a majority.

The rush to fill these seats was launched when U.S. Rep. Suhas Subramanyam was first elected to Congress in November. A special election was required to fill his seat in State Senate district 32. Then, incumbent Del. Kannan Srinivasan (D-Loudoun) opted to run for the state senate vacancy, launching another special election to fill his vacant House of Delegates seat for district 26.

Winning either of these seats would have been a major upset for the GOP. Ahead of the election, both of Loudoun’s General Assembly seats were listed as “Strong Democrat,” according to the Virginia Public Access Project. 

In the 32nd district Virginia Senate race, Srinivasan, a Democrat, defeated his Republican opponent Tumay Harding. In Loudoun’s House of Delegates race, Democrat JJ Singh defeated Republican Ram Venkatachalam.

Democrats have held the Virginia Senate since Youngkin started his term, blocking him from a Republican trifecta since 2022.

The districts, both in Loudoun County, would have been a boon for Youngkin if they flipped toward Republicans as he is now set to finish his first term with Democratic majorities in both chambers. 

Srinivasan celebrated his victory in a social media post.

“This win is a victory for Loudoun, its families, and every Virginian across our Commonwealth,” Srinivasan wrote in a statement on X. “Tonight, we have shown that when we stand together and fight for the issues we care about, we win.”

In a statement posted to X, Harding wrote “While this is not the result we had worked and hoped for, I want to thank everyone who put their blood, sweat, and tears into this race, and know that I am not done working for our community and our kids.”

The special elections come shortly after Loudoun County swung toward the Republican party by about nine points between the 2020 and 2024 presidential elections. With about 80% of the vote reporting, Democrats in both races have outperformed Harris’s Loudoun performance by about four points, however, these districts do not include the entire county. 

While Democrats won the seats in Loudoun County, these were not the only special elections to be held on Tuesday. Republicans held State Senate district 10, a GOP stronghold vacated by U.S. Rep. John McGuire. In that race, Republican Luther Cifers beat Democrat John Trammell to represent the Central Virginia state senate district.  

Both parties will now turn their focus to a hotly contested gubernatorial race to succeed Youngkin as governor in November.