NORFOLK, Va. — Election Day in Virginia brought a major victory for Democrats.
With all 140 General Assembly seats up for grabs after redistricting, the party not only kept control of the Senate, but they also took control of the House. That power shift comes after two years of divided power.
While some races are still too close to call, Democrats are projected to have at least 21 seats in the 40 seat Virginia Senate, and at least 51 of 100 seats in the House.
It’s a majority, but a slim one.
Key issues like abortion drove voters to the polls. Now that the votes are in, what does this shift in power mean for Virginia?
"It makes things harder for Governor Youngkin," said Jesse Richman, associate professor of political science with Old Dominion University.
He said just because Democrats have a narrow majority in each chamber, we could still see a stalemate on certain bills, with Youngkin’s veto power.
"The last couple of years it’s been a stalemate where each chamber has sent bills to the other chamber where those bills have then died. This time it’s going to be more a pattern of the House of Delegates, the Senate passing legislation that then goes to the governor potentially to die," he said. "Democrats can push policy a little more in their direction in terms of teeing up things where the governor has to decide then is this bad enough that I’m going to veto it or not, where before it was a negotiation between the chambers. So, I expect that we’ll see the Governor is somewhat of a weakened position in negotiations."
For months, Republican candidates have pushed for Youngkin’s proposal of a 15-week abortion ban with exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother. Now, Richman said that doesn’t look likely.
"I think it’s exceedingly unlikely that he’ll get that through. My expectation is that there will be no change in Virginia’s abortion laws," he said.
Something Democrats might try to push for now that they’ve gained control is the legalization of marijuana sales. Whether or not that will pass remains to be seen.
"The Democrats may want to change policy, but it’s going to be difficult for them to do with a Republican Governor," Richman said.
Ahead of this election cycle, many analysts said Virginia’s results would likely tell us which way the Commonwealth will lean for the 2024 Presidential Election. Though, Richman said that’s still hard to tell.
"It suggests Virginia remains, at the state level, quite purple," he said. "Democrats have a slight edge, but it’s not a big edge and so Republicans can win if they put together an effective campaign."
Even with this new power balance, Gov. Youngkin said he’s eager to work together to get things done.