Republicans will take the majority in the US House of Representatives and Democrats held their slim majority in the Senate. Some midterm contests are still being counted, which is weird, but the House majority is now with Republicans, who will take at least 218 seats in next year’s congress.
Democrats have 50 seats in the Senate right now, which includes one pick-up (Pennsylvania). Georgia’s race goes to a run-off, but the winner won’t change the majority.
Nationally the news is terrible for Republicans. Most pundits and pollsters predicted Republicans with a comfortable majority in the House and at least 51 seats in the Seante. Historically, the party in control of the White House loses a lot of seats in the midterms and that simply did not happen this time.
Virginia has eight congressional districts considered to be Safe for the incumbent. All eight held. Republican Reps. Rob Wittman in the 1st, Bob Good in the 5th, Ben Cline in the 6th, and Morgan Griffith in the 9th, along with Democrat Reps. Bobby Scott in 3rd, Don McEachin in the 4th, Don Beyer in the 8th, and Gerry Connolly in the 11th, all won.
Only one of Virginia’s three competitive districts flipped hands while the other two looked like upsets early only to have the incumbent take a late lead for a close win.
In VA02, Republican State Senator Jen Kiggans defeated Democrat Rep. Elaine Luria. This was a race that most pundits adjusted during the campaign toward the Republican challenger. By Election Day, it looked like Kiggans would win. Republicans picked-up this seat with just under 52% of the vote.
VA07 looked like an upset, but Rep. Abigail Spanberger held on late defeating her opponent, Prince William County Board of Supervisors member Yesli Vega. Spanberger was certainly the favorite going in, with a war chest of campaign cash that no opponent would be able to match. As of the latest financial report, Spanberger had outspent Vega by $6 million. That doesn’t count spending from outside organizations. The final financial report is not out yet, but it will likely show an even larger spending difference.
VA10 was another one that looked like an upset early, only for the incumbent to hang on late. Rep. Jennifer Wexton defeated Republican challenger Hung Cao. Much like the tallying in the 7th, the GOP candidate was up early. But, as always, Fairfax County came in late, and with early vote totals favoring the Democrat, Wexton had plenty of votes left to win.
In all, congressional incumbents went 10-1 in Virginia this midterm.
