By Canadian Press

Virginia Democrats retain their control of the Statehouse in special elections

Jan 7, 2025 | 5:42 PM

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia Democrats preserved their Statehouse majority on Tuesday after voters in the northern and central part of the state backed two Democrats to fill a vacancy in the state Senate and an open seat in the House of Delegates.

In northern Loudoun County, Democratic Del. Kannan Srinivasan defeated Republican Tumay Harding in the race to succeed Suhas Subramanyam, a Democrat elected to the U.S. House in November.

In an overlapping House of Delegates district, Democrat JJ Singh bested Republican Ram Venkatachalam in an election to replace Srinivasan, who vacated his House of Delegates seat after becoming a nominee for the special Senate election.

In central Goochland County, Republican Luther Cifers is vying against Democrat Jack Trammell in the race to succeed U.S. Rep. John McGuire. McGuire clinched Virginia’s 5th Congressional District after narrowly defeating former U.S. Rep. Bob Good by less than a percentage point in a bitter primary, which led to a recount last August.

Tuesday’s races were the first official elections in Virginia since November’s presidential contest, which left many Democrats reckoning with the party’s losses in federal elections. State Senate Democrats had a narrow 20-18 majority, making the special elections key to the party’s efforts to preserve a majority in both chambers during Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s last year in office. In the House of Delegates, Democrats had a 50-49 lead following Srinivasan’s departure.

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Srinivasan, the first Indian American immigrant elected to the Virginia House of Delegates, and Singh, a Virginia native and son of Indian immigrants, hoped to hold the Democratic seats in a county where data shows that Vice President Kamala Harris received 57% of the vote in her failed bid against President-elect Donald Trump. Both Singh and Srinivasan had largely centered their campaigns around abortion rights in Virginia. It comes at a time when state Democrats are working to enshrine a constitutional right to abortion in the state.

Harding, the daughter of Turkish Uzbek immigrants, and Venkatachalam, an Indian American immigrant, vied to flip the Senate and House seats from Democrats. Both candidates, who each unsuccessfully ran for the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors in 2023, centered their state campaigns along party lines, such as parents’ rights, crime and the economy.

Olivia Diaz, The Associated Press