What. a. night.
Despite the predictions (and admittedly, assumptions) that the Republican takeover of the State Senate was a foregone conclusion, election night started great, then went down, down, down, down, down, down and in one fell swoop came right back up in a euphoria I have not felt in quite some time. Literally, shouting just twenty minutes ago.
A quick recap.
The night began with Democrats shaking their head at the number of races that went unchallenged and Republicans licking their chops at the number of vulnerable races. As the polls closed, turnout numbers looked quite low and given the deficit of Democrat turnout the last two cycles, Republicans around the state felt solid that the close races would flip their way.
It was not to be.
Race after race, VPAP called races for Democrat incumbents (quick shout-out, VPAP hands-down outdid itself this year, with a user-friendly interface on the mainpage with every contested race in the Senate along with a power structure chart showing realtime results. Outstanding, VPAP.org) By 11:15, we were ready to call it a night, dejectedly.
One last glance at VPAP changed all of that.
In the equivalent of a hail mary from the one-yard line with one second left on the clock, a human error entering information in Spotsylvania County turned a 126 vote deficit to an 86 vote lead as the clock ran out and showed 100% on the clock. Bryce Reeves defeats Edd Houck. I screamed, yelled, shouting and posted fast and furious on facebook and twitter to spread the news and get instant updates.
It was true.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Republicans now control the House (with a massive 7 seat pickup tonight, which is another story, including the forced-retirement of Ward Armstrong), the Governor’s Mansion and now have a 20/20 split in the State Senate, with all ties being broken by Lt. Governor Bill Bolling, the equivalency of full control in the state.
The decline of Dems has reached a new low (if such a thing were possible) particularly given the way the nights’ results were looking. Chairman Moran was preparing a victory lap, Governor McDonnell canceled his media availability, and in the span of minutes everything flipped on its head.
The other takeaway from the night? If the presidential election were held today, Virginia would be a solidly red state, 61% – 39%, as Republicans account for nearly 660,000 votes; Democrats just 452,000 votes. Obviously those numbers will be higher, but it took every gerrymandering trick in the book for the Democrats to hold a 20/20 split in the Senate where all ties will be broken by Bolling (who likely will be the busiest man in Richmond next year, moving from his office to the General Assembly frequently and often). In statewide elections, Tim Kaine and Barack Obama look to be living on borrowed time.
