· Rees Shearer · Blog article · 3 min read
2025 Virginia Election Analysis
For Virginia Democrats, it was quite a night.
Last updated: November 14, 2025
The statewide results of the 2025 election in Virginia represent a landslide of support for the Democratic Party candidates, both in all statewide offices and especially in House of Delegate races. In the House races, 13 Republican seats fell to Democrats, including one in the Blacksburg/Montgomery-Roanoke County area. The Democrats already held a slim majority of one vote in the House chamber. This election gives them close to a super majority in the House.
Voter turnout in strong incumbent party localities is a key barometer of overall satisfaction with the party in power. In deep red coalfield counties, voter turnout peaked at about 45% and was below 38% in Buchanan County. In Washington Co. and most counties east in the I-81 Corridor and south of it, turnout was over 50%, which approached the 53.8% overall statewide voter turnout. Whether voter dissatisfaction or complacent satisfaction with the political status quo depressed voter turnout in our region remains to be seen.
What does the election mean for far Southwest Virginia where voters re-elected Republican delegates in every district? While all SWVA counties voted for the Republican statewide ticket by large margins, all far SWVA localities followed the statewide shift to the Democratic Party when comparing vote percentages between the 2021 governor’s race and the one this month or between the 2024 Presidential race and the partisan divide on November 4th. With Republican representation in the General Assembly, SWVA will largely be on the periphery of policy development in the Assembly and at gubernatorial level, though organizations like Take Action SWVA are more likely to get a hearing from the new governor.
The new Democratic Attorney General will be able to join other Democratic attorneys general across the country to take the Trump Administration to court and protect Virginians from some of the worst aspects of MAGA policy. This is important because the Supreme Court has limited the impact of lower court injunctive relief. No longer are nationwide injunctions allowed, except in class action cases, so having Virginia represented in these cases is critical.
Virginia’s off-year gubernatorial elections, which follow U.S. presidential elections by one year, have predicted trouble for or satisfaction with the incumbent national political party in the upcoming midterm elections. This year’s signal from Virginia is strongly negative for the national Republican Party’s performance in the 2026 midterms. The low turnout in especially strong Republican areas, like SWVA, may also be an alarm bell for Republicans.
