Former President Donald Trump and Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin during a rally on June 28, 2024 in Chesapeake. (Charlotte Rene Woods/Virginia Mercury)
Virginia’s elected officials are reacting with mixed reactions to Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election, even as Vice President Kamala Harris managed to keep Virginia in the Democratic column, albeit by a smaller margin than President Joe Biden did in 2020 achieved.
Republican officials in Virginia celebrated the former president’s national victory, citing it as a mandate for their party’s agenda.
“The American people have overwhelmingly spoken out to return common sense, strength and leadership to the White House. Through Trump’s presidency, we will pave the way for an economic recovery, a secure border, and a stronger America on the world stage,” Governor Glenn Youngkin said in a statement.
Youngkin made no comment Harris’ victory in Virginia. The Democrat defeated Trump by a five-point margin, winning 51.8% to Trump’s 46.5%, a spread of nearly 225,000 votes out of a total of about 4.3 million votes cast, according to unofficial data from the Virginia Department of Elections.
Trump claimed victory nationwide, capturing 292 electoral votes to Harris’ 224, and also won the popular vote by a margin of 4.8 million – the first Republican candidate to do so since re-electing President George W. Bush in 2004 became.
Virginia Democrats, by contrast, remained largely silent in the immediate aftermath of Tuesday’s election.
One of the few party leaders to address Virginians directly within hours of the Associated Press called the breed ahead of Trump was Virginia House Speaker Don Scott, D-Portsmouth, who despite Democrats’ defeat in the race for the White House and U.S. Senate expressed optimism about his state and how Democrats and Republicans can work together at the state level.
“All politics is local, and I think we’re starting to see that here in Virginia,” Scott told reporters outside the state capital, Richmond, on Wednesday afternoon. “I think the people of Virginia expect us to do everything we can to protect their freedoms, and then work together where we can, with the governor and with the federal government.”
But pointing to certain voter demographics and polarizing factors about Trump as a candidate, he said, “I think we have learned some lessons about what is acceptable and unacceptable to white American people.”
Democrats and activists have consistently raised concerns about Trump’s rhetoric, which often discredits people of color, immigrants and women.
“I think the country has bet Donald Trump that he didn’t mean some of the things he said, and that they’re going to trust him,” Scott said. “I hope they are right because we want him to be successful because it is good for the whole country.”
The economy was “a big issue” during the 2024 election cycle, Scott added, as the reason some Virginia voters turned to Trump.
“I think inflation is real. There are people who still feel pain about inflation. Even though inflation has come down and prices have come down, we’re going back in the right direction… I think that message didn’t resonate with voters, and I think that hurt us at some point,” said he.
And Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., whose seat was not up for re-election this year, said he was committed to “working with President-elect Trump to get things done for Virginians, just as I did during his first term. ”
“Americans made their choice on Tuesday, and while it wasn’t my favorite candidate, I respect the democratic process and the outcome of this election,” Warner said.
Many Democratic leaders had expected a strong performance for Harris in the state, but her smaller-than-expected margin of victory reflects a shift in Virginia’s political landscape, especially in rural areas where Republican Party turnout had increased, political analysts say.
“Almost everywhere in Virginia and nationally, red areas became redder and blue areas became less blue,” said Stephen Farnsworth, a political scientist at the University of Mary Washington.
Trump’s obvious liabilities — his felony convictions, his chaotic administration and his rhetoric fueled by his white-hot anger — didn’t seem to matter to voters in the mood to reject the status quo, Farnsworth said.
“In the Commonwealth, where abortion was protected by existing state laws, the abortion issue was less relevant. In a number of states where abortion was on the ballot, abortion measures were far more popular than the Democratic candidates who supported them.”
And voters were clearly dissatisfied with the Biden administration’s record, especially as it related to economic turmoil, the border and racial and cultural politics, Farnsworth added.
“The national dimensions of this frustration were visible in all areas – almost everywhere we saw Harris winning by less or losing by more than Biden four years ago.”
Virginia Republicans hailed Trump’s win as a victory for the commonwealth, while remaining silent on the former president’s defeat in the state.
House Minority Leader Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah, said in a statement that Trump and his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, will return to Washington with “a clear mandate” from the American people.
“Across Virginia, and indeed across the country, voters shifted to the right in record numbers. Working-class Americans stood up and said they were tired of hearing that the economy was doing well, and that they should just buy brand name peanut butter to tackle inflation,” Gilbert said.
Groups long “taken for granted by the left” rejected the claim that their schools are good and their children are safe in their communities, he added.
“Tens of millions of Americans decided they were tired of being called Nazis simply because they had different political views. Americans will no longer ignore what they see right in front of them, no matter how much Democrats insist that reality is wrong.”
Rich Anderson, the chairman of the Republican Party, said he was pleased with the results, both nationally and in Virginia.
“We are obviously pleased with the national race, the American people have spoken and President Trump has been re-elected for a second term,” Anderson said in a telephone interview on Wednesday. “Here in Virginia he didn’t carry it, but we worked very hard and took the 10.1% lead that Biden had in 2020 and cut it to just under 6% this year. I have a very good feeling about that.”
None of the “swinging of the party pendulum” is happening in a revolutionary way, Anderson added.
“It’s mostly evolutionary, and we’re now trying to take that pendulum and swing it back to the right as far and as quickly as possible.”
Most Republicans, however, limited their post-election commentary to social media, offering a mix of reflection and Monday morning quarterbacking with a dash of mockery.
“It looks like over 300 electoral votes, the popular vote, taking the Senate and keeping the House of Representatives, and god, who could have predicted it was a bunch of bigoted misogynists if they hadn’t voted for your candidate? Not a good campaign strategy? Who could have predicted that?” Del. Nick Freitas, R-Culpeper, a social media influencer, told his 1.3 million Instagram followers in a video he posted Wednesday.
On
“Identify the 200,000 Virginia Biden voters who didn’t show up for Harris. Find out what is going on with some of the pollsters who seem completely divorced from reality,” Sturtevant listed as one of his own action items.
Susan Swecker, the chair of the Democratic Party of Virginia, declined to comment Wednesday, saying she was waiting for Harris to address the American people later on Wednesday.
But DPVA spokeswoman Kelsey Carolan said Democrats in Virginia did well in the presidential election compared to other eastern states — despite Republican gains across the board.
Carolan cited election data from Connecticut, where Trump won 8.9% of voters compared to 2020, New York (10.6%), New Jersey (10.9%) and Maryland (10.3%).
“In Virginia, Trump currently has a 4.8% gain,” Carolan said. “That’s the most apples-to-apples analysis, because all of these states are states where neither campaign has spent money on TV ads. These were wave elections and we held our own.”
A few Democratic lawmakers took their post-election grief to social media.
In one long thread on X said Del. Jackie Glass, D-Norfolk, that Tuesday night reminded her of the night Trump was first elected eight years ago. She recalled how her then 10-year-old son asked her if his Latino and Hispanic classmates at school could be “taken away.” She added that she had once again woken up with a “familiar feeling of dread.”
But Glass still left her fellow Democrats with a message of hope and optimism.
“Grab your pen, your wallet, your protest sign, your petition and most importantly, your cause. Remember that we are lovers, no matter who we love, where we have been or how we have lived. And if there’s one thing I know as a wife and mother, it’s this: Lovers are the best fighters. Let’s fight for Virginia. Let’s go.”
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