Elections in Virginia
Traditionally, political parties could choose which nomination method to use for each election, with the option to either participate in the state-run primary or conduct a party-run convention.
In 2009, Governor Tim Kaine proposed to authorize no-excuse early voting in Virginia elections, noting that 26 other states allow it.
In the late 1870s, a coalition of Conservative Democrats, Republicans, and African Americans was assembled and the Readjuster Party took power for about 10 years.
Senator William Mahone and the Readjuster Party lost control of Virginia politics around 1883, white Democrats regained the state legislature.
They proceeded to use statute and a new constitution in 1901, with provisions such as a poll tax, residency requirements, and literacy test to disfranchise most African Americans and many poor whites.
Under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, decisions affecting elections are subject to preclearance by the U.S. Department of Justice before they can take effect.
Senator John Warner and Congressman Tom Davis also exemplified the more "moderate-conservative" tendencies of Virginia Republicans.
In the 1990s Virginia experienced some political realignment, electing conservative Republicans George Allen and Jim Gilmore to the governorship from 1994 until 2002.
Jim Gilmore's "no car tax" pledge was emblazoned on bumper stickers and yard signs across the state.
After decades of Democratic rule in the Virginia General Assembly, Republicans took control around the turn of the 21st century and promptly redistricted to protect their incumbents.
[13] In 2007, Virginia driver fees legislation created a political uproar when residents realized that they faced $3,000 fines for certain moving violations.
An online petition quickly gathered hundreds of thousands of signatures, spurring legislators up for re-election that November to reconsider their positions.
[14] In 2007, the Democrats regained control of the State Senate, and narrowed the Republican majority in the House of delegates to 7 or 8 votes.
[15] Virginia voted for Democrat Barack Obama in 2008, after backing Republican candidates for the previous ten presidential elections.
From 1977 until 2013, Virginia had elected a governor of the opposite political party compared to the President of the United States of the time.
In the 2004 United States presidential election, John Kerry won Fairfax County, long a Republican stronghold, by 2.4% and generally fared better in the rest of Northern Virginia than Al Gore did in 2000.
Some portions of the state like college towns and the southeastern counties in the Black Belt Region have been more likely to vote Democratic.
In 2005 and 2006, Democrats Tim Kaine (running for governor) and Jim Webb (in a race for Senator) won nearly all jurisdictions within the Northern Virginia region.
His campaign stressed respect for rural cultural values (such as gun rights) and strategies for economic development.
All three of these "swing" counties voted for President George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004, Barack Obama in 2008[21] and 2012, and Hillary Clinton in 2016.
[22] Democrats have won formerly Republican-held seats in the General Assembly in Loudoun and Prince William counties in the 2017 and 2019 elections.
