The Opportunity

In the State Senate, the rightwing is two seats away from the majority. In the State House, they hold the majority by two seats. If power shifts in the Senate, there would be a new rightwing trifecta in Virginia. We cannot let that happen. 

Protecting the majority in the Senate and shifting power in the House of Delegates would shield Virginians from the worst of their rightwing governor’s radical agenda. 

The Stakes

• The rightwing Virginia House majority, along with Republican Governor Youngkin, has threatened the future of reproductive rights in the state. As one of the few Southern states with abortion protections — put into place before the House fell into the hands of the radical right — new bans would impact patients from nearby states and Virginians. Following the fall of Roe, Youngkin has asked the legislature to send him a bill limiting access to abortions in the state that he can sign into law.
  
• Youngkin has also attempted to remove protections for Virginia’s clean air and water, prioritizing narrow special interests over the health and safety of Virginians. Over the past year, the Assembly has blocked his attempts to appoint a former coal lobbyist from becoming Virginia’s Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources. State lawmakers have also been the buffer between him letting big polluters off the hook for their carbon emissions.
  
• One of Youngkin’s first initiatives after his election was to attack teachers and prevent them from teaching about Martin Luther King, Jr. 

The Landscape

Two years after the radical right shifted the balance of power in the Virginia House of Delegates, both of Virginia’s legislative chambers are up for election. 

In 2021, just 400 votes shifting across three seats would have maintained the House majority. And in the newest maps, both parties have a path to the majority. Regaining control of the House is within reach. 

• We came within 400 votes across three districts of winning the House majority.
• Three of our endorsees won their seats, Delegates Elizabeth Guzman, Wendy Gooditis, and Schulyer VanValkenburg. 
• Five of our other endorsees, Delegates Alex Askew, Josh Cole, Roslyn Tyler, and Nancy Guy, as well as Debra Gardner, lost by margins of 5 percent or less.
• A pending lawsuit to force Virginia to hold House of Delegates elections with new lines that adequately reflect the population shifts over the previous decade could very well mean State Legislative elections in Virginia in 2022. If that happens, we will be there to help regain the majority.

Special Election

In early 2021, our Giving Circles community powered a victory for Delegate Candi King in a special election. With the election held just weeks after a contentious 2020 election season, we saw how tight this seat could be due to low turnout. Delegate King won by 263 votes, just three percent of the vote. 

In the general election in November, Delegate King was able to safely hold her seat by a margin of more than 3800 votes—proving the value of providing support when it matters most.

In 2019, The States Project’s electoral effort helped to flip the Virginia House creating a new majority of Virginia lawmakers who passed policy after policy to improve lives.

• Eleven endorsees won their seats, including three challengers who flipped seats to shift the balance of power in the state.
• Four of the five top doorknockers in Virginia participated in The States Project Door Knocking Challenge. In total, all of our participants knocked on over 30,000 doors. On average, candidates in the challenge knocked on 2,000 more doors than candidates who weren’t!
• We supported the eight incumbents we had endorsed in 2017 who were running for re-election. Half of these races ended up being close (within 10%), and with our support, our re-endorsed incumbents performed as well as they had in 2017 despite a tougher electorate.