Democrats regained control of the General Assembly in the Nov. 7 elections, likely putting a damper on Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s legislative agenda and potential 2024 presidential aspirations. Democrats won 21 out of 40 seats in the Virginia State Senate and 51 seats out of 100 in the House of Delegates, which has been held by Republicans for the past two years.
This electoral outcome will likely prevent Youngkin from passing most of his agenda, including placing a 15-week limit on abortions, which was a significant issue for many voters, particularly Democrats and women. It may also at least temporarily lessen his national standing, as Youngkin failed to deliver a red wave as he did during his 2021 election, which saw Republicans elected to the state’s top three offices and the GOP take control of the House.
The election also sets up Virginia House Minority Leader Don Scott Jr. of Portsmouth to become the first Black speaker of the House in the Virginia legislature’s 400-plus-year history, replacing GOP Speaker Todd Gilbert, who has presided over the House of Delegates since January 2022.
In a Nov. 8 news conference, Youngkin downplayed his party’s disappointing results and noted the General Assembly’s recent history of changes in party control. “I think what that reflects is that we are a state that is very comfortable working together, working across party lines to get things done.”
Virginia’s blue wave followed a national trend, as Ohio voters approved ballot measures guaranteeing abortion access and legalizing recreational marijuana use. Meanwhile, in Kentucky, voters granted a second term to Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, who had campaigned on making Kentucky’s abortion laws less restrictive.
Virginia voters went to the polls Nov. 7 to fill all 140 General Assembly seats. Many candidates were new faces or, at least, less experienced than those who previously filled the legislature, thanks to a December 2021 redistricting that redrew political districts without prioritizing residential addresses of incumbents. That led to an unprecedented wave of retirements and some primary defeats of longtime legislators.
Democrats came up victorious in some of the most hotly contested races.
In Loudoun and Fauquier counties, Democrat Russet Perry, a former CIA officer and prosecutor, won Senate District 31, defeating Republican Juan Pablo Segura, a health care tech entrepreneur who founded a local doughnut chain.
Del. Danica Roem, who was the nation’s first openly transgender state lawmaker, was elected to the state Senate for the 30th District seat in Manassas and part of Prince William County, defeating Republican candidate Bill Woolf, formerly a Fairfax County police detective.
In another key seat, Democratic Del. Schuyler VanValkenburg defeated incumbent Republican state Sen. Siobhan Dunnavant in Senate District 16 in western Henrico County.
However, Republican David Owen won with 51.2% of the vote over Democrat Susanna Gibson in House District 57 in western Henrico and Goochland counties, a race that received national attention following revelations that Gibson had performed sex acts with her husband on a live streaming pornography website while soliciting tips from viewers.
With issues such as parental influence in schools, reproductive rights, cannabis retail sales and corporate tax cuts in the balance, Democratic- and Republican-affiliated PACs sank millions into legislative campaigns this year. According to an Associated Press story, by early November, General Assembly candidates brought in record amounts of cash, with Senate candidates raising $80.8 million, compared with $53.6 million at the same point in 2019, and House candidates raising $77.5 million, compared with $67.5 million in 2019.
Both Republicans and Democrats emphasized the historic nature of the election, which could determine the state’s abortion, clean energy, education and tax policies for decades to come — although the parties differ widely on their overall goals.
Voting in Loudoun, retired Navy Lt. Cmdr. Steven Ritz said although he’s ordinarily a Republican, he voted for Democrat Perry because he felt the GOP has strayed from the party it used to be, which he deemed “fiscally conservative, [but] not rabid.”
And at a western Henrico polling place, Pilates instructor Angie Madison, a self-described independent who votes depending on the issues, said she voted for Democratic candidates in the Nov. 7 elections. “I’m trying to do my part by voting Democratic and trying to vote for abortion rights and all that stuff,” she said. “It feels like we’re going back in time versus forward in time, so I want to go forward in time.”
Where some people see pollutants, Steve Critchfield sees the potential for profit and to improve the environment.
As founder and president of Pulaski-based MOVA Technologies, Critchfield developed and patented a filter about the size of a refrigerator that captures selected air pollutants and breaks them into byproducts that can be sold and reused. It’s based on technology developed by the late Arthur Squires, a Virginia Tech professor who worked on the Manhattan Project.
MOVA started out aiming to get into the competitive market for developing carbon capture technology, but as its board and backers became impatient for returns, Critchfield says, the company pivoted to producing an ammonia-capture filter for the poultry industry, its first product launch.
Instead of exhausting highly soluble airborne ammonia from chicken waste into the air, where it can wind up polluting waterways through runoff, poultry farms can capture the ammonia with MOVA’s filters and turn it into fertilizer.
Following a successful pilot test with a poultry producer in Delaware this spring, MOVA is planning an early 2025 rollout for the ammonia-capture filters.
That’s not to say that MOVA is getting away from carbon capture, though. After completing a $2 million seed round in September and receiving about $500,000 in federal and state grants to develop and test its technology, MOVA announced in October it will collaborate on a carbon dioxide capture program with Pulaski-based Vegg Inc., a controlled environment agriculture startup for which Critchfield is the largest shareholder.
MOVA’s industrial-sized point-source filters will capture carbon dioxide from the air to feed plants that Vegg will grow at an indoor, vertical farm being established in Pulaski’s former Jefferson Elementary School building, which Vegg bought last year for $100,000.
“It’s like we’re just harvesting [carbon dioxide] and hooking the spigot up to the building,” says Vegg co-founder Luke Allison, also director of advancement and stockholder relations for MOVA.
MOVA’s innovation comes as Virginia moves toward its state mandate of net-zero carbon emissions from power generation by 2050.
Unlike carbon storage systems designed to indefinitely capture carbon emissions, MOVA’s filters are intended to recycle carbon dioxide for industrial uses, Critchfield says.
If the pilot with Vegg is successful, Critchfield sees possibilities for expanding beyond indoor farming into serving industries like bottling and brewing: “No more carbon dioxide will need to be created. That’s huge for global warming.”
Freelance writer Paul Bergeron contributed to this story.
The Southern Virginia Megasite at Berry Hill in Pittsylvania County is the top contender for a lithium-ion battery manufacturing project that could top $1 billion in investments and about 1,500 jobs, according to its CEO.
Tennessee-based Microporous, whose legal entity is MP Assets, confirmed early Tuesday that it has been working on a deal with Virginia to bring in the operation after the grant was announced Monday by the U.S. Department of Energy. The project would involve at least a $100 million investment and 282 jobs, the Energy Department said in its announcement.
“I think it’s a win for my company. I think it’s a win for Virginia and the potential employees there,” Microporous CEO John Reeves told Virginia Business in an interview Tuesday, adding that the project is also a “huge winner for the United States as well.”
For eight decades, Microporous has produced separators for lead-acid batteries, the oldest rechargeable battery technology used for power grid systems and ignition power for automobiles, and also has a facility in Austria. Its headquarters are in Sullivan County, Tennessee, near Bristol, Virginia.
The company’s newest venture involves manufacturing separators for lithium-ion batteries, which are used to power electric vehicles, among other devices. China is the leading manufacturer of the lithium-ion batteries, demand for which is only expected to continue to grow in coming decades. While the Biden administration has focused on rebuilding supply chains to bring manufacturing, jobs and a focus on emerging technologies back to the U.S., protecting national security has also been a critical component of those efforts.
Microporous was among recipients of seven Energy Department awards, totaling $275 million, for disadvantaged communities, including those that once had booming coal industries. The projects are intended to address critical energy needs while rebuilding a domestic supply chain for existing and emerging technologies. Microporous is to receive the largest chunk of that funding at $100 million.
While North Carolina and Tennessee have also been contenders for the deal, Reeves said his company is “leaning towards Virginia.” The 3,500-acre Southern Virginia Megasite at Berry Hill earlier this year lost a $3.5 billion Ford Motor Co. electric vehicle battery factory when Gov. Glenn Youngkin pulled the state out of the running for the deal over concerns that a Chinese company would be involved in its operation.
Reeves said Microporous’ long-term plans for Berry Hill, which it has been eyeing for about a year, include two facilities comprising about 120 acres near a solar farm, which could help power its operations. He also cited the site’s “world-class” rail service, as well as workforce training efforts available in the region.
“It’s just a great fit all the way around,” Reeves said.
A spokesperson for Youngkin did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. Jason El Koubi, president and CEO of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, declined to comment.
“For competitive reasons and to protect confidential company information, we cannot comment on current or potential economic development prospects,” El Koubi said in an email to Virginia Business.
While Reeves did not offer specifics about the deals that North Carolina and Virginia have put forth, North Carolina has been a “bit more” generous in its financial offer, while Virginia has offered resources like training and recruitment, tools he called equally important. Virginia has also moved faster and “continued to impress us in all the right things.”
“Virginia has been super helpful. … The people in the Virginia economic development group are second to none,” he said, referring to the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, the state’s lead economic development group led by El Koubi. “Not only are they thorough, they’re broad and they’re very deep. I can’t think of something that they didn’t really rally around to get done, and the resources in the Danville area are amazing.”
The separators Microporous produces are made of polyethylene film, the same material many plastic trash bags are made from. The film is then coated, slit and then wound to form a battery cell. Today, the U.S. has the capacity to produce about 100 million square meters of the separators for lithium-ion batteries annually, which are larger than their lead-acid counterparts. By 2035, the U.S. will need up to 25 billion square meters annually, Reeves said, adding there is room in the U.S. for 15 factories.
Reeves said the long-term vision for the Danville site includes two buildings, each with two film lines, 20 coating lines and 40 slitting lines. The eventual output for a potential Microporous site factory in Danville, which would require about 1,500 workers, would be about 1.2 billion square meters of film. Depending on funding — Microporous is applying for additional grants — build out could take up to eight years if the company has to fund the project. With government grants, Reeves anticipates four to five years.
It would also be a strategic location for the company. Two lithium-ion battery plants are under construction within about 80 miles of Danville in North Carolina, including a Toyota plant in Liberty and a VinES plant in Chatham County. In Western Tennessee, Ford’s BlueOval City will produce the company’s next generation all electric truck and advanced batteries; a second Ford plant in central Kentucky will consist of two battery plants.
Toyota’s and VinES could consume all of the separators Microporous plans to produce out of a new factory; Ford could consume twice that capacity, Reeves said.
Reeves said he could envision a scenario with one of the two buildings landing in North Carolina with another in Danville; he also said he could see a second plant winding up in North Carolina later in the future because doubling the workforce to 3,000 people would be too much for the region to produce.
Advanced manufacturing has helped propel rapid growth in the region, Matthew Rowe, Pittsylvania County’s economic development director, said. While he declined to directly comment on Microporous’ plans, he said the region is looking to attract clients that can “move the needle.”
Corrie Bobe, Danville’s economic development and tourism director, did not respond to queries from Virginia Business.
Reeves said he was unsure of a timeline for any official announcement about the project. The company will spend the next 45 days finalizing paperwork and negotiating its contract for the grant, a process for which Virginia is providing data.
A $100 million-plus lithium-ion battery project could be coming to Virginia, the U.S. Department of Energy announced Monday, but a spokesperson for U.S. Sen. Mark Warner said North Carolina could also be in contention.
MP Assets will build a facility to manufacture separators for lithium-ion batteries, bringing 282 permanent jobs and at least a $100 million investment, according to the announcement. The announcement named Virginia but did not identify where the project would be located, saying only that the project will provide the jobs for “double dispersed coal and Justice40 communities.” Justice40 refers to a goal set by President Joe Biden that 40% of certain federal investments, including in climate change, and clean energy and transit as well as other workforce, housing and pollution remediation, go to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized, underserved and overburdened by pollution.”
While the energy department said the project would go to Virginia, it wasn’t immediately clear that that would be the case. Rachel Cohen, a spokesperson for Warner, said North Carolina had also been considered a potential location. Additional information about the project was not immediately available Monday and a company official could not be reached.
Lithium-ion batteries are used in a range of products, including power tools and electric vehicles. The Department of Energy award was one of seven announced Monday for former coal communities totaling $275 million, as well as the largest, and the projects are expected to be matched by $600 million in private investments. The projects are part of a Biden administration initiative to address critical energy needs while rebuilding a domestic supply chain for existing and emerging technologies.
Other projects include $50 million for Boston Metal, a company founded by MIT scientists, to build a plant in Weirton, West Virginia, to manufacture metal and alloy for clean energy industries while reskilling workers in the former coal community, as well as $20 million for a wind turbine manufacturing plant in Vernon, Texas.
Huntington Ingalls Industries’ McLean-based Mission Technologies division has received a three-year contract to provide information sharing capabilities between the Five Eyes intelligence alliance.
Newport News-based HII announced the award Nov. 21; information about the award was not disclosed.
The Pegasus contract is administrated by the Secretary of the Air Force’s Concept, Development and Management Mission Partner Capability Office and calls on Mission Technologies to provide email, phone, video and chat capabilities between the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and New Zealand at the national and international levels.
“Pegasus is an important capability that will help U.S. military forces and Five Eyes members with critical war planning and execution,” Grant Hagen, president of Mission Technologies’ cyber, electronic warfare and space business group, said in a statement.
The work will be performed by HII, with Falls Church-based General Dynamics Information Technology serving as a major subcontractor.
Huntington Ingalls Industries is the nation’s largest military shipbuilder. The Fortune 500 company employs more than 44,000 workers and is Virginia’s largest industrial employer. Its Newport News Shipbuilding division is the United States’ only manufacturer of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.
Virginia has joined seven other states in forming a collaborative to support the growth of the advanced air mobility industry.
The Advanced Air Mobility Multistate Collaborative represents all aviation modes, including small uncrewed aircraft systems (sUAS) and electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles (eVTOL), which are both often referred to as air taxis, as well as traditional aviation and airports. The collaborative is meant to act as a forum for exchanging industry ideas around technology, economic and infrastructure development, and commerce and trade, as well as to identify and harmonize governance and regulatory mechanisms in each state to ensure continuity of operations. It will also study the development of guidance for state authorities to connect with and complement the Federal Aviation Administration’s airspace jurisdiction.
“While the Federal Aviation Administration regulates AAM operations in the national airspace, state governments can support AAM by shaping the state and local laws and regulations, infrastructure and funding that complement the FAA policy and advance the AAM industry,” Virginia Department of Aviation Director Greg Campbell said in a statement.
The collaborative, which held its first meeting in Herndon on Nov. 14 and Nov. 15, is largely comprised of aviation directors from states including Alaska, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas and Utah as well as the National Association of State Aviation Officials, though it is expected to grow, said Tracy Tynan, director of the Virginia Unmanned Systems Center, a part of the Virginia Innovation Partnership Corp.
The group plans to add members from other states and to serve as a resource to develop a national AAM ecosystem. It plans to seek input from industry to help with additional analysis and establish goals to enable policy. Its next meeting is planned for Ohio in February 2024 and is expected to cover topics including the role of the states in AAM, lessons learned, harmonizing policy, minimum service levels for physical and digital infrastructure, and financial models for initial funding and how to sustain the building of infrastructure.
An economic impact study released in January showed that air taxis in Virginia could generate up to $16 billion in new businesses and carry as many as 66 million passengers by 2045.
Electra’s EL-2 Goldfinch took off from Manassas Regional Airport and flew 23 minutes, reaching an altitude of 3,200 feet and covered about 30 miles, the company said in a news release.
According to Electra, the company’s two-seat Goldfinch eSTOL is the world’s first aircraft to use blown-lift distributed electric propulsion powered by a hybrid-electric propulsion system. It relies on eight electric motors to increase wing lift and enable short takeoffs and landings on soccer-field-size spaces. It is also quieter than conventional airframes, while emitting fewer pollutants. Its turbogenerator can also charge the hybrid electric airplane during flight, eliminating the need for special charging infrastructure at every airport.
The Goldfinch was flown by Cody Allee, a former Navy jet fighter pilot who is now chief technology officer and chief test pilot at Maryland-based ABSI Aerospace & Defense, a provider of unmanned aircraft systems training and technology. Electra.aero Vice President and General Manager JP Stewart followed the Goldfinch in a Cessna 185.
Watching the flight was “the realization of a dream,” Stewart said. “The first flight showed that the airplane was stable, that it was controllable, that … the systems work great and are well understood in how we’ve modeled them, and now we start to expand that envelope,” Stewart said.
That expansion will include additional testing of different control inputs, including turning and pitching up and down, as well as flying at different speeds. While much of the first flight stuck largely between about 80 and 90 miles per hour, the aircraft can reach speeds of up to 200 mph; however, the emphasis should be on how slow the aircraft can fly, Stewart said. Unlike a traditional aircraft, it doesn’t require a long runway.
“That’s how you get into these really small spaces. The idea of what we’re pursuing with the short takeoff and landing is that you can start by flying from existing airports, and going airport to airport, because that’s known infrastructure … and you can replace aging airplanes and less efficient airplanes that are doing that mission already,” Stewart said. “Because you can get into these small spaces, as the market develops, you can start to land in vertiports or places that used to be the domain purely of helicopters.”
The Goldfinch flown on Nov. 19 is a prototype for a eSTOL aircraft the company is developing, targeted for commercial use by 2028, that can carry up to nine passengers or 2,500 pounds of cargo. That aircraft is intended to take off and land within distances as short as 150 feet and fly at up to 200 mph with a range of 500 miles, which could open up air travel to more regions while making it more affordable, more environmentally friendly and faster.
“The aim of Electra is to fill a gap in air travel between 50 and 500 miles, where most trips today are made by automobile. The key to saving time is to operate close in, which means getting in and out of small spaces quietly and safely, while still being fast enough to cover long distances,” Electra founder, CEO and Chairman John Langford said in a statement. “Electra will be able to take you from downtown Manhattan not only to [John F. Kennedy International Airport], but to Washington, D.C. It will bring air service to thousands of communities where air travel today is not a practical or affordable option. It also opens vast new opportunities for middle-mile cargo logistics.”
The Nov. 19 flight followed another that took off from the airport on Nov. 11; that all-electric flight was completed to test the aircraft’s electric battery system as a shakedown flight, Stewart said.
Electra has preorders from 30 customers for more than 1,700 aircraft, totaling a $6 billion backlog. In January, the company received an $85 million award from the Air Force to accelerate prototype development, testing and evaluation.
Langford founded Electra in 2020; the company has 40 employees and contractors. Langford previously co-founded Aurora Flight Services, a subsidiary of Arlington County-based Boeing. Langford also participates in the Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation’s Advanced Air Mobility Alliance and the company in 2023 received a VIPC Commonwealth Commercialization Fund grant as well as an investment from VIPC’s Virginia Venture Partners. The value of the grant and award were not available.
News of the Goldfinch’s flight follows an announcement that Virginia has joined a collaborative with seven other states to expand the advanced air mobility sector. On Nov. 29, Electra announced that Bristow Group, a Texas based company that provides helicopter offshore energy transportation and search and rescue services globally to governments and the civilian sector, made a deposit for five of its future aircraft, which it will use to expand and diversify its portfolio. Bristow signed a memorandum of understanding with Electra in 2021, preordering up to 50 aircraft.
Arlington Capital Partners has completed its acquisition of Herndon-based cybersecurity company Exostar, the Chevy Chase, Maryland-based private equity firm announced Monday.
The deal was announced in September, and financial terms were not disclosed. It comes a little more than three years after Exostar was acquired by Chicago-based Thoma Bravo, a private equity firm, in a deal valued at about $100 million, The Wall Street Journal reported in 2020.
Exostar’s cloud-based platform allows users to securely collaborate and share information, including with third-party suppliers. It has nearly 200,000 customers around the globe in highly regulated industries including aerospace, defense, banking, insurance, health care and life sciences.
“We are excited to begin Exostar’s next chapter as we continue to expand our leading platform for secure business collaboration,” Exostar CEO and President Richard Addi said in a statement. “Arlington’s directly relevant focus, experience, network, and support will strengthen our team and advance our mission to make the Exostar platform the solution of choice for our target markets and our rapidly growing customer communities. We very much appreciate the thoughtful, strategic support we have received from Thoma Bravo that has helped us transform our company and solidify our position.”
Exostar was founded in 2020 and has about 250 employees.
“Building digital trust and sharing information seamlessly, securely, and compliantly is a growing necessity for companies globally and has made Exostar’s portfolio of products more critical than ever,” Michael Lustbader, a managing partner at Arlington Capital Partners, said in a statement. “We look forward to utilizing our domain knowledge in highly regulated industries to build on Exostar’s leadership position and accelerate their growth trajectory through a focus on innovation and enhanced customer value.”
Arlington Capital Partners focuses on middle market investments in industries including aerospace, defense, government services, health care and software, and has managed more than $7 million in investments.
Virginia Beach-based Doma Technologies, a software company founded in 2000, will invest $3.7 million to expand in the city, adding about 307 jobs in the next three years and bringing its total to about 500 employees, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Thursday.
The expansion will include a new 69,000-square-foot facility. Doma is currently located along London Bridge Road in the city, where it employs more than 200 people.
“Doma Technologies’ decision to expand in Virginia Beach showcases Virginia’s ongoing technology sector growth,” Youngkin said in a statement. “Through significant investment, Virginia is expanding its tech talent pipeline to create an innovation ecosystem that allows companies like Doma to secure the workforce it needs to grow right here in the commonwealth.”
The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with the City of Virginia Beach to secure the project for Virginia and will support Doma Technologies’ job growth through the Virginia Jobs Investment Program, which provides consulting and funding to companies creating jobs to support employee recruitment and training.
Details about the expansion weren’t immediately available on Thursday. Doma is a cloud-based document management company and works with the federal government and private sector clients.
“Doma is proud to be a Virginia business headquartered in the great city of Virginia Beach,” Pat Feliciano, Doma’s founder and president, said in a statement. “It’s our vision to be the premiere software company for the city, state and the broader region.”
Democrats regained control of the Virginia Senate and the House of Delegates in Tuesday’s elections, likely putting a damper on Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s legislative agenda and potential 2024 presidential aspirations. As of 11:45 p.m. Tuesday, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, Democrats won 21 out of 40 seats in the state Senate and 51 seats in the House, which has been held by Republicans for the past two years.
This electoral outcome will likely prevent Youngkin from passing most of his agenda, including placing a 15-week limit on abortions, which was a significant issue for many voters, particularly Democrats and women. It may also at least temporarily lessen his national standing, as he failed to deliver a red wave as he did during his 2021 election, which saw Republicans elected to the state’s top three offices and the GOP take control of the House.
The election also sets up Virginia House Minority Leader Don Scott Jr. of Portsmouth to become the first Black speaker of the House in the Virginia legislature’s 400-plus-year history, replacing GOP Speaker Todd Gilbert, who has presided over the House of Delegates since January 2022.
Republicans won 19 Virginia State Senate seats. The Associated Press called a Williamsburg-area nailbiter at 2:15 p.m. Wednesday in favor of GOP challenger Danny Diggs, who defeated Democratic incumbent Monty Mason. The final count saw Diggs with 32,764 votes, or 50.69% of the total, and Mason with 31,742 votes.
In the House, Republicans held 48 seats as of 2:45 p.m. Wednesday, with one race not yet called. Republican Del. Kim Taylor’s race against Democrat Kimberly Pope Adams in Petersburg and Dinwiddie County was too close to call, with Taylor ahead with 50.23% of the vote and less than a 200-vote margin over Adams. Taylor declared victory late Tuesday, but Adams had not conceded as of Wednesday afternoon.
Two other close House races went in Republicans’ favor: District 57’s contest in Henrico County between Democrat Susanna Gibson and Republican David Owen, a race that received national press following revelations that Gibson had performed sex acts with her husband on a live streaming pornography website while soliciting tips from viewers. Owen won with 51.16% of the vote, gaining 17,878 votes to Gibson’s 16,912. In James City County and Williamsburg, Republican Del. Amanda Batten won a third term with 51.93% of the vote over Democrat Jessica Anderson.
Voters went to the polls Tuesday to fill all 140 General Assembly seats. Many candidates were new faces or, at least, less experienced than those who previously filled the legislature, thanks to the December 2021 redistricting process, which redrew political districts without prioritizing the residential addresses of incumbents. That led to an unprecedented wave of retirements and some primary defeats of longtime legislators.
Blue wave
In several of the most hotly contested races, Democrats came up victorious Tuesday night.
In Loudoun and Fauquier counties, Democrat Russet Perry, a former CIA officer and prosecutor, won Senate District 31 with 52.5% of the vote as of 10:28 p.m. Tuesday, according to unofficial results from the Virginia Department of Elections. She defeated Republican Juan Pablo Segura, a health care tech entrepreneur who founded a local doughnut chain. Segura received 40,835 votes compared to Perry’s 45,350 votes, and the Associated Press estimated 92% of votes had been counted by 10:25 p.m., when it called the race.
Segura conceded about an hour later. “We were outspent but not outworked,” he said in a statement. “We knocked on more than 100,000 doors and talked to many, many thousands of voters about their hopes, dreams and concerns. … I also want to congratulate Russet Perry on a hard-fought race, and I wish her the best of luck in representing this special place. Lessons are learned in losses, but I heard very clearly the deep desire from so many in this district for better representation from their government.”
Both were first-time candidates, and Perry outpaced all other state legislature candidates in fundraising more than $6 million by Oct. 31, while Segura raised a bit more than $5 million.
Del. Danica Roem, another Democratic delegate seeking a Senate seat, beat Republican candidate Bill Woolf for the 30th District seat in Manassas and part of Prince William County with 51.51% of the vote. Roem, who became the nation’s first openly transgender state lawmaker upon her 2017 election to the House of Delegates, won 29,713 votes to Woolf’s 27,794 as of 10:13 p.m., according to unofficial results from the Virginia Department of Elections. A former journalist, Roem currently represents House District 13, which includes Manassas Park and part of Prince William County. Woolf was formerly a detective with the Fairfax County Police Department.
“I’m grateful the people of Virginia’s 30th Senate District elected me to continue representing my lifelong home of western Prince William County and greater Manassas,” Roem said in a statement. “The voters have shown they want a leader who will prioritize fixing roads, feeding kids and protecting our land instead of stigmatizing trans kids or taking away your civil rights.”
In another key seat, Democratic Del. Schuyler VanValkenburg won Senate District 16 in western Henrico County with 52.69% of the vote as of 9:38 p.m. Tuesday, according to unofficial results from the Virginia Department of Elections. The Associated Press estimated more than 95% of votes had been counted by 9:33 p.m.
VanValkenburg received 27,469 votes to Republican Sen. Siobhan Dunnavant’s 24,544 as of 9:43 p.m. Although the incumbent, Dunnavant was redistricted into a slightly bluer district than her previous district, which had included part of Hanover County. The race was considered a key contest to watch this year and saw some of the largest fundraising among Virginia’s legislative races.
The Associated Press called House District 58 race in western Henrico County in favor of the Democratic two-term incumbent Del. Rodney Willett, a tech consultant and small business entrepreneur, who took 11,897 of votes, or 53.1%, over Republican challenger Riley Shaia, a physical therapist, who won 10,496 votes, or 46.9%. AP called the race with 95% of votes counted.
Off-off election year
Numerous incumbents retired or lost primaries after being drawn into the same districts as other incumbents. Particularly in the state Senate, longtime party leaders chose to bow out rather than face a primary battle, leaving younger and less moderate candidates running for office this fall.
Although 2023 was, at least in name, an off-off election year with no presidential or statewide races topping the ballots, legislative candidates in competitive districts saw a massive influx of money and heated rhetoric from both parties. High stakes, including Virginia’s status as the only Southern state without significant abortion restrictions, were riding on whether either party can take control of the commonwealth’s legislature, which is currently split, with Republicans running the House of Delegates and Democrats controlling the state Senate.
Although his name wasn’t on ballots, Youngkin’s presidential hopes also rested on Tuesday’s results, drawing national attention. If Republicans had won back control of the General Assembly, Youngkin could have mounted a plausible last-minute campaign for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, politicos forecast. But with Democrats regaining power of just one of the legislative bodies, Youngkin will be unlikely to pass much of his stated agenda through the General Assembly, including a ban on abortions after 15 weeks and tax cuts for corporations, with the blue wave likely putting any presidential ambitions he has on hold, at least for 2024.
In a press conference Wednesday, Youngkin called the outcome “a razor-thin set of decisions” made by voters and noted the commonwealth’s recent history of changes in party control, downplaying Republicans’ disappointing results. “I think what that reflects is that we are a state that is very comfortable working together, working across party lines to get things done.”
In response to a reporter’s question about his presidential ambitions, Youngkin was predictably coy. “I have answered this question the same way for a long time. I am focused on Virginia. I have been in Virginia. My name is not on the ballot in New Hampshire. I have not been in Iowa. I am not in South Carolina. I am in Virginia, and I look forward to staying focused on Virginia, just like I have been.”
With issues such as parental influence in schools, reproductive rights, cannabis retail sales and corporate tax cuts in the balance, Democratic- and Republican-affiliated PACs sank millions into legislative campaigns this year. According to an Associated Press story, money raised by Virginia State Senate and House of Delegates candidates this year eclipsed totals from 2019. As of early November, Senate candidates had raised $80.8 million, compared to $53.6 million at the same point in 2019, and House candidates raised $77.5 million, compared to $67.5 million in 2019.
Both Republicans and Democrats emphasized the historic nature of the election, which could determine the state’s abortion, clean energy, education and tax policies for decades to come — although the parties differ widely on their overall goals.
Youngkin and state Republicans advocated to enact limits on abortions after 15 weeks, a rollback of Virginia’s current laws allowing abortions up to 26 weeks, although, in the third trimester, three doctors must sign off on the procedure as medically necessary. Democrats, meanwhile, have argued that the 15-week limit, posed as a reasonable compromise by Republicans, would be the first of many restrictions on abortion following the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade last year.
Parents’ involvement in their children’s K-12 education remained a hot topic, carrying on from Youngkin’s winning gambit in 2021’s gubernatorial race, when he focused attention on a Loudoun County sexual assault case, in which a 14-year-old male student sexually assaulted a female student in a school restroom and then was allowed to transfer to another high school, where he abducted and assaulted another student. The teen was later convicted in juvenile court, and in September, Youngkin pardoned one of the victims’ fathers, who had been arrested and charged with obstruction of justice and disorderly conduct at a county school board meeting.
Republican state Sen. Siobhan Dunnavant greets voters at a Henrico County polling place on Nov. 7, 2023. Photo by Katherine Schulte
Last week, the governor issued an executive order mandating that school districts inform parents within 24 hours of any overdoses involving their schools, after Loudoun County Public Schools waited more than 20 days to report that nine high school students had overdosed on pills suspected of containing fentanyl. Youngkin also has ordered schools to inform parents if their children use a different gender identity at school than is their assigned sex. He has also required that students participate in sports and use bathrooms based on their assigned sex, a mandate some school systems have refused to enforce — particularly in Northern Virginia.
A Washington Post-George Mason University Schar School of Policy and Government poll, conducted Oct. 11-16, showed a divided commonwealth going into the elections, with 47% of registered voters saying they would vote for a generic Democrat for delegate, and 43% for a Republican. Meanwhile, 70% of voters said education was the most important issue for them this year, followed by the economy at 68% and abortion rights at 60%.
According to VPAP, 789,848 people voted early across the state as of Monday, with Democratic voters making up about 60% of early voters, compared with about 40% for Republicans.
Virginia Department of Elections Commissioner Susan Beals said Tuesday afternoon that some localities’ ballots were longer than usual, with county supervisors, sheriffs and other local offices included, as well as state legislators. There was an issue with poll books reported at some Chesterfield County locations — but those were resolved by early afternoon, Beals said. At Williamsburg’s Matoaca precinct, where locally registered William & Mary students can vote, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported “long lines all day.”
In Loudoun County, during Tuesday’s lunch hour at the town’s Ida Lee Park Recreation Center, West Leesburg voters turned out in a steady stream, which precinct chief Kevin Smith described as “one in, one out.” Morning was busiest, and 536 voters, out of a district of about 3,100, had cast their ballots by a little after 12:30 p.m., Smith said. Voters reported no issues or problems with machines, and the atmosphere outside, where the Loudoun County Republican Party had set up a tent to shade volunteers from the sun, was congenial as volunteers from either side of the aisle offered up sample ballots to would-be voters and shared occasional, friendly conversation across the sidewalk from folding chairs.
Steven Ritz, a retired Navy lieutenant commander voting at the recreation center, said he’s ordinarily a Republican but felt the party has strayed from the one he had known in the past, which he deemed “fiscally conservative, not rabid.” While he likened both parties to “monkeys flinging feces at each other,” he voted for Russet Perry, the Democrat who won the 31st District Senate seat. Perry, a former CIA officer who has also served as a county prosecutor, defeated Leesburg health-tech entrepreneur and District Donut co-founder Juan Pablo Segura in a race that focused largely on abortion and crime. Perry cast Segura in television ads as a “MAGA Republican” who wants to ban abortions; Segura volleyed back, casting his opponent as soft on crime and backed by “defund the police” groups.
Ritz voted with his gut. “Juan hasn’t been here in Leesburg that long. It looked to me opportunistic,” he said of Segura’s candidacy.
Other voters said they turned out particularly because of the abortion question. Shaun Meredith and his daughter, Rachel Meredith, said they voted for Perry. “Every woman should have a choice for her own body, to make that decision,” Rachel Meredith said.
In Virginia Senate District 16 in western Henrico County, voter turnout was steady overall with slight fluctuations throughout the morning in at least two precincts.
At about 12:50 p.m., the Echo Lake Elementary School polling location in the Coalpit precinct in Glen Allen had received 791 votes. “It’s been steady since we opened. There’s some periods where … we had a good little crowd for a while,” said Maurice Talley, a volunteer poll worker at the elementary school.
Incumbent Republican state Sen. Siobhan Dunnavant stopped at the school to greet voters as she campaigned at multiple polling locations during her ultimately unsuccessful battle against her Democratic challenger, state Del. Schuyler VanValkenburg. Voters who recognized Dunnavant or her name after an introduction were enthusiastic, she said. “They’re excited to be turned out. They say, ‘You’ve got this. This is great,’” she said.
Angie Madison, a Glen Allen Pilates instructor who said she isn’t loyal to one party and goes back and forth depending on the issues, said she voted for Democratic candidates Tuesday. “I’m trying to do my part by voting Democratic and trying to vote for abortion rights and all that stuff,” she said. “It feels like we’re going back in time versus forward in time, so I want to go forward in time.”
High stakes, high rollers
According to VPAP, the following state Senate candidates raised the most money, as of Oct. 31:
Democrat Russet Perry — $6,071,414
Republican Sen. Siobhan Dunnavant — $5,104,711
Democrat Del. Schuyler VanValkenburg — $5,069,960
Democrat Sen. Monty Mason — $5,043,533
Republican Juan Pablo Segura — $5,003,665
Among delegate candidates, Democrats dominated fundraising:
Democrat Joshua Cole — $3,816,605
Democrat Michael Feggans — $3,255,257
Democrat Josh Thomas — $3,198,811
Republican Del. Karen Greenhalgh — $2,778,182
Democrat Kimberly Pope Adams — $2,706,971
Not surprisingly, familiar names were among the biggest donors in the elections. The Virginia Senate Democratic Caucus donated $7.5 million for Democratic candidates, while Youngkin’s Spirit of Virginia PAC doled out $4.8 million to GOP candidates. Dominion Energy and the Clean Virginia Fund — a fund created by Charlottesville millionaire Michael Bills to dilute the political influence of Dominion — gave just over $4 million each to Senate candidates this year.
In the House races, the House Democratic Caucus donated $10.8 million, while the Republican Commonwealth Leadership PAC gave $4.1 million. Dominion and the Clean Virginia Fund made donations of $3.8 million and $3.6 million, respectively.
For those watching broadcast television in the days before the elections, negative ads ran thick and fast in competitive districts, and Youngkin blazed a trail across the state to get out Republican voters to the polls for early voting in October and early November. Democrats, meanwhile, called on Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and gun-control advocate David Hogg to get out the vote.
In Richmond’s casino battle redux, Churchill Downs and Urban One, corporate backers of the proposed $562 million Richmond Grand Resort & Casino, sank more than $10 million into their campaign to pass the city’s second casino referendum, almost four times the amount spent in 2021 and more than for any individual candidate running this year. Ultimately, the second referendum failed by a 58% to 42% margin.
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