Republican Glenn Youngkin Won in Two Democrat-Controlled U.S. House Districts in Virginia

With Virginia’s election results coming in early Wednesday morning, showing a Republican sweep of all three statewide races as well as wresting majority control of the House of Delegates, Democrat U.S. Reps. Abigail Spanberger (VA) and Elaine Luria (VA) now represent districts won handily by Republican Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin, according to data from the Virginia Public Access Project (VPAP).

Republicans took the Commonwealth last night by overperforming in deep blue areas like Northern Virginia, the Richmond suburbs, and the Virginia Beach, Norfolk, and Hampton Roads areas, potentially foreshadowing Republican gains in the 2022 midterms. Republicans also came out in droves in the Trump-won areas of Southwest, handing Youngkin a margin that overperformed the former President’s 2020 election.

Red wave: 58 of 59 localities that have reported all precincts have shifted to the right compared to 2017. Emporia City down on the NC line for now is solo on the blue wave. https://t.co/9ZUqiZNddt pic.twitter.com/KiHkNl8Zm3

— Virginia Public Access Project (@vpapupdates) November 3, 2021

That big red dot? That is Loudoun, which moved 10.0 points to the right compared to 2017. Loudoun details –> https://t.co/Zc9dIxVxCv pic.twitter.com/YtAMDcOd2U

— Virginia Public Access Project (@vpapupdates) November 3, 2021

Spanberger, who represents the suburbs of Richmond to the west going north along the western portion of Interstate 95, won her seat in 2020 by about 1.8 percentage points, per VPAP data. In 2018, she beat incumbent Tea Party Republican Dave Brat by almost two percentage points.

After the Old Dominion’s results trickled in, it became clear that Youngkin won her district by 15.4 percent, showing a nearly 17-point swing in the Republicans’ favor.

News Analysis: The Republican resurgence on Tuesday in Virginia — a state that President Biden won by 10 percentage points last year — came as Glenn Youngkin received much stronger support in every corner of the state than Donald Trump did in 2020. https://t.co/FFYqGj95MS pic.twitter.com/AM1aqGCph8

— The New York Times (@nytimes) November 3, 2021

Luria, whose district is home to the highest per capita U.S. military constituency in the country as well as a vast military-industrial job sector, represents Hampton Roads, Norfolk, and Virginia Beach. She first won this seat in 2018, beating incumbent Republican and former Navy SEAL Scott Taylor by just over two percent. In the 2020 rematch between the two, she won more handily by just over 5.7 percent.

Results from Tuesday’s gubernatorial election show that her seat might be in trouble, however, as Youngkin took the district by 8.3 percent — a 14-point swing from 2020.

Furthermore, two Virginia House of Delegates districts were flipped from Democrat to Republican within Luria’s congressional district, according to VPAP.

National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) spokeswoman Camille Gallo said of Spanberger and Luria’s seats that, “Last night’s election results make it very clear Elaine Luria and Abigail Spanberger are doomed in 2022.”

But Virginia’s election results open more pickup opportunities for Republicans in 2022, as the NRCC on Wednesday expanded their list of targeted House seats to include Northern Virginia’s Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-VA) — a district that represents the political hotbed county of Loudoun, which moved ten points in Republicans’ favor to push Youngkin over the top.