Virginia was won by incumbent United States Vice President George H. W. Bush of Texas, who was running against Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis.

Bush ran strongly in most parts of the state, but in particular, he cracked sixty percent in populous Fairfax County, outside Washington, D.C., and got over ⁠2/3⁠ and ⁠3/4⁠ of the vote in the Richmond suburbs of Henrico and Chesterfield, respectively, which contributed to the swelling of his statewide margin.

[2] Every Republican presidential nominee following World War II had won Virginia except for the victories of Harry S. Truman and Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1948 and 1964 elections.

Virginia was the only southern state that Democratic nominee Jimmy Carter failed to win in the 1976 election.

[3] The Republicans held Virginia's governorship from the 1969 election until Democratic nominee Chuck Robb's victory in 1981.