This year all of Virginia’s state lawmakers are up for re-election. And those House of Delegates races don’t always get the kind of publicity as higher profile elections. But, as Michael Pope reports, this year might be different.
Virginia is the only southern state that President Trump lost last year, and it’s one of two states that have statewide elections this year. That puts a new and intense focus on the one hundred House of Delegates races that will be on the ballot this November. Incoming House Republican Leader Todd Gilbert says the GOP is likely to hold the majority.
“There’s a national mood that we always have to react to, but our members have been very proactive over the years in trying to be responsive to the needs of their districts.”
House of Delegates races often go uncontested, but Democrats say they are experiencing an unprecedented amount of interest this year. They have candidates in all 17 Republican-held House districts that Trump lost. And so far they have candidates in 44 of the 66 GOP-held House seats. Democratic Whip Alfonso Lopez.
“The excitement and the palpable energy is there with people who are concerned about what’s going on at the federal level and are concerned about what we need to do in Virginia to move forward.”
Candidates have until June 13th to get on the ballot, so it’s likely even more will emerge in the next few months.
