Summary
Federal and municipal elections were held in the U.S. state of Virginia on November 8, 2016. All of Virginia's House of Representative seats were up for re-election. Primary elections for Congress were held on June 14, 2016 and primary elections for president were held on March 1, 2016.
Federal elections edit
President of the United States edit
The Democratic Party candidate, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton of New York, carried Virginia with 49.8% of the popular vote against businessman Donald Trump of New York, who carried 44.4%, a victory margin of 5.4%. Clinton seemed to benefit from having Tim Kaine on the ticket. Whereas the national popular vote swung 1.9% Republican from the previous election, Virginia swung 1.37% Democratic.[1] Virginia was among the eleven states in which Hillary Clinton outperformed Barack Obama's margin in 2012.[1]
Trump became the first Republican candidate since Calvin Coolidge in 1924 to win the White House without carrying Virginia. It has not voted Republican in 12 years. Before 2008, Virginia had not voted for a Democrat since 1964. Virginia is appearing to become traditionally Democratic for the first time in nearly 70 years. This is due largely to migration into counties in Northern Virginia close to Washington D.C., which has tilted those densely populated areas towards the Democratic Party.
Virginia was the only state in the eleven former states that belonged to the Confederate States of America to vote Democratic. This is a reversal from 1976, when it was the only state that had belonged to the CSA to vote Republican.
General election edit
| United States presidential election in Virginia, 2016 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Running mate | Votes | Percentage | Electoral votes | |
| Democratic | Hillary Clinton | Tim Kaine | 1,981,473 | 49.75% | 13 | |
| Republican | Donald Trump | Mike Pence | 1,769,443 | 44.43% | 0 | |
| Libertarian | Gary Johnson | William Weld | 118,274 | 2.97% | 0 | |
| Independent | Evan McMullin | Mindy Finn | 54,054 | 1.36% | 0 | |
| Green | Jill Stein | Ajamu Baraka | 27,638 | 0.69% | 0 | |
| Independent (Write-in) | -
|
-
|
31,870 | 0.80% | 0 | |
| Totals | 3,982,752 | 100.00% | 13 | |||
| Voter turnout (Voting age population) | 71.30% | |||||
| Source: Virginia Department of Elections Archived 2016-12-23 at the Wayback Machine | ||||||
Primary elections edit
All four major party candidates on the ballot won their state primaries. Hillary Clinton defeated Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary by 64–35 percent margin. Donald Trump defeated Marco Rubio by a 34–31. Additionally, in the Republican primary, Ted Cruz, John Kasich and Ben Carson earned enough votes in Virginia's primary to receive delegates, although they all suspended their campaign before the 2016 Republican National Convention. The Libertarian Party did not hold a primary in Virginia, where Gary Johnson received acclamation. Jill Stein defeated Kent Mesplay by a 76–6 percent margin in the state's Green Party primary. Mesplay and Stein were the only two candidates on the ballot to receive delegates to send to the 2016 Green National Convention.
United States House of Representatives edit
| District | Party | Incumbent | Status | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Republican | Rob Wittman | Won | Republican | Rob Wittman | 230,213 | 59.86% | ||
| Democratic | Matt Rowe | 140,785 | 36.61% | ||||||
| Green | Glenda Gail Parker | 12,866 | 3.35% | ||||||
| 2 | Republican | Scott Rigell | Retired | Republican | Scott Taylor | 190,475 | 61.33% | ||
| Democratic | Shaun Brown | 119,440 | 38.46% | ||||||
| 3 | Democratic | Bobby Scott | Won | Democratic | Bobby Scott | 208,337 | 66.70% | ||
| Republican | Marty Williams | 103,289 | 33.07% | ||||||
| 4 | Republican | Randy Forbes | Lost | Democratic | Donald McEachin | 200,136 | 57.73% | ||
| Republican | Marty Williams | 145,731 | 42.04% | ||||||
Citywide elections edit
The cities of Richmond and Virginia Beach had municipal citywide elections for mayor and city council. Democratic candidate, Levar Stoney was elected as mayor of Richmond, while incumbent Republican, Will Sessoms was reelected as mayor of Virginia Beach.