by LowellIt's 7 pm, and polls are now closed in Virginia. In this live blog of the election returns, I'll primarily be checking the State Board of Elections website (assuming it doesn't crash, as it so often does on election nights in Virginia), VPAP and the Fairfax County Board of Elections site. Feel free to use the comments section of this post to report what you're hearing.
UPDATE 10:44 pm: In Prince William County, I'm really happy to see Justin Wilk (D) elected to the School Board! Bummed to see Andrea Bailey (D) lose to Maureen Caddigan (R), and really appalled at any "Democrat" who supprted Caddigan. And no, I'll never understand the appeal of crazy ol' Corey Stewart (R), who won by 14 points tonight over Democrat Rick Smith. Why, Prince William County, why?!? Oh yeah, good to see Ken Kookinelli's candidate for Commonwealth Attorney in PW County, Mike May, lose to Democrat Paul Ebert.
UPDATE 10:38 pm: The night gets better, as John Bell (D) declares victory! "The AP has just called my race, and I am humbled and honored to be elected to the Virginia House of Delegates. I want to thank both of my opponents for running hard-fought campaigns. I look forward to serving the people of the 87th District in Richmond."
UPDATE 10:24 pm: The AP has called it for Democrat John Bell in District 87. Cool! Also, in Loudoun County, with 82/94 precincts reporting, it's Democrat Phyllis Randall 37%- Charlie King (R) 30% - Scott York (I) 29.7%. Wow. Also in Loudoun, Democrat Kristen Umstattd won, which means there will be a 6-3 Republican board, down from 9-0 prior to this election. Strong night for Democrats in Loudoun! In the end, other than the Gecker loss, this was actually a strong night for Democrats in Virginia, much to many people's surprise!
UPDATE 10:09 pm: With 66/71 precincts reporting, it's Sen. John Edwards (D) comfortably ahead of Republican Nancy Dye, 19,153-16,257. Jeremy McPike (D) is also winning handily over Hal Parrish (R). So, in the end, it all came down to the Gecker vs. Sturtevant race, and unfortunately Democrats couldn't quite pull it out to take back control of the State Senate. Bummer.
UPDATE 10:03 pm: In Loudoun County, with 68/94 precincts reporting, Democrat Phyllis Randall leads Scott York (I) 38%-30% for Chair, followed by Republican Charlie King with 29%. Fascinating. In Fairfax County, with 23/24 precincts reporting, it's Del. Kathleen Murphy (D) leading 10,632-10,449 over Republican Craig Parisot. Too close for comfort! Oh, and Jill McCabe just congratulated raging homopobe and all-around extremist nutjob Sen. Dick Black on his victory (gack!!!) tonight.
UPDATE 9:52 pm: With 29/35 precincts reporting, Democrat Laurie Buchwald leads Del. Joseph Yost (R) 4,222-3,919. Go Laurie! With 64/71 precincts reporting, Sen. John Edwards leads Republican Nancy Dye comfortably, 51%-43%. With 37/49 precincts reporting, Sen. George Barker (D) is looking fine, leading 53%-47%. Also note that Glen Sturtevant (R) has declared victory over Dan Gecker (D). And with that, Democrats will NOT take back the Virginia State Senate this year. Sigh. On the other hand, looks like we held all our incumbent - including Jeremy McPike holding Chuck Colgan's seat - so definitely no Republican "wave" by any means.
UPDATE 9:43 pm: Jeremy McPike (D) pulling away over Hal Parrish (R), now leading 54%-46% with 32/49 precincts in. Sen. John Edwards (D) now ahead of Nancy Dye (R) 49%-44%, with 1 precinct remaining in Giles County, 6 precincts remaining in Montgomery County, and 5 precincts remaining in Roanoke City. He should be fine.
UPDATE 9:41 pm: GREAT news from Democrat Koran Saines, who just announced, "Thank you to ALL of Sterling! We are humbled by your support, and are honored to be your next Sterling District Supervisor!" Good riddance to Loudoun County's disgrace, Eugene Delgaudio!
UPDATE 9:35 pm: In Fairfax County, it appears that John Frey (R) will defeat Bettina Lawton (D) for Clerk of the Court. Stacy Kincaid is easily winning reelection as Sheriff. It looks like Democrats picked up Sully District on the County Board, congratulations to Kathy Smith! :) Also, congratulations to John Foust (D), who defeated Jennifer Chronis (R). All in all, not a bad night for Democrats, picking up a seat on the Fairfax County Board after all the angst.
UPDATE 9:25 pm: Sen. George Barker (D) is leading 53%-46% with 26/49 precincts counted. Looking fine there. Also, congratulations to Alexandria Mayor-elect Allison Silberberg, who is winning easily (currently leading 64%-36% with 20/28 precincts in).
UPDATE 9:17 pm: That really sucks about Gecker, because everything other than that things are looking ok for the "blue team." McPike has pulled ahead of Parrish by 362 votes, with 26/49 precincts reporting. It also looks good for Jennifer Boysko, although John Bell's still "too close to call" from what I hear.
UPDATE 9:12 pm: OK, this is not good news at all. "@Redistrict Not surprising: Sturtevant (R) wins Powhatan Co. by 5,110 votes per @JoeStGeorge. Republicans will keep control of VA Senate. #SD10." In better news, Democrat Koran Saines is leading crazed homophobe Eugene Delgaudio (R) in Loudoun Couty by 115 votes, with 4/9 precincts reporting. And Democrat Phyllis Randall is leading Scott York (I) for Loudoun County Board Chair 37%-30% with 48/94 precincts reporting.
UPDATE 9:00 pm: Amazingly, still no results from Powhatan County, which is all that stands between Democrat Dan Gecker and the State Senate. With 20/49 precincts reporting, it's now Hal Parrish 7,090-Jeremy McPike 6,911. Note that Manassas City, where Parrish is mayor, has fully reported, so it's all up the Prince William County part of the district. I'd definitely say that McPike still has a good shot here, given that there are a lot of heavily Democratic parts of the district still to report. By the way, if there had been a Republican "wave" tonight, we would have seen races like the Monty Mason-Lara Overy election much closer. Instead, Mason won easily (55%-45%).
UPDATE 8:50 pm: With 51/93 precincts reporting, Henrico County Commonwealth Attorney Shannon Taylor is leading Republican Tony Pham 57%-43%. VERY good news! Also potentially good news -- Democrat Kathy Smith leads Tea Partier John Guevara 52%-47% with 10/30 precincts reporting in Sully District, Fairfax County. Also, it's looking like Democrat Dalia Palchik is going to defeat Republican Patty Reed, as Palchik currently leads 60%-39% with 16/25 precincts reporting. I'm very happy about that one, after watching Reed's pathetic performance during the debate over transgender students a few months ago. Reed richly deserves to lose, and Palchik richly deserves to win this one!
UPDATE 8:36 pm: With 5/17 precincts reporting, Democrat Jennifer Boysko leads Republican Danny Vargas 55%-42%. Go Jennifer! :) On the other hand, Del. Kathleen Murphy (D) currently trails Republican Craig Parisot 53%-47% with 8/24 precincts reporting. C'mon Kathleen! Democrat Jill McCabe losing to one of the craziest, most extreme Republicans anywhere -- State Sen. Dick Black, 55%-45% with 20/65 precincts reporting. :( Oh, and with 11/49 precincts reporting, Republican Hal Parrish now holds a slim lead (50.3%-49.6%) over Democrat Jeremy McPike. Democrats absolutely need to hold this seat to have a shot at 20-20 in the State Senate, and it's too close to call right now. By the way, congratulations to my friend Scott Surovell, who looks headed to the State Senate by a wide margin. :)
UPDATE 8:30 pm: So far, it looks like Democrats have been "holding serve" in the State Senate, with a possible pickup in the 10th district if Dan Gecker (D) can hold on. Currently, Gecker leads Glen Sturtevant (R) 53%-45% with 51/67 precincts reporting (note that all of HEAVILY Republican Powhatan County is outstanding...). Also, with 25/71 precincts now reporting, it's Sen. John Edwards (D) leading Republican Nancy Dye 55%-39%.
UPDATE 8:20 pm: Good news potentially from Fairfax County, as Dalia Palchik (D) leads Patty Reed (R) 61%-39% with 9/25 precincts reporting for School Board. So far, not seeing any signs that the crazed anti-transgender folks are turning out in droves for Republicans here. Let's hope this continues! :) Also good news -- Democrat John Foust is leading Republican Jennifer Chronis 55%-45% with 7/30 precincts reporting, and Democrat Kathy Smith is leading Tea Partier John Guevara 51%-49% in Sully District (Fairfax County).
UPDATE 8:12 pm: With 19/24 precincts reporting, Del. Monty Mason (D) is beating Republican challenger Lara Overy 56%-44%. Looking good here! Sen. Lynwood Lewis (D) is trouncing his Republican opponent with 10/56 precincts reporting. With 40/49 precincts reporting, it appears that Sen. Frank Wagner (R) is going to defeat Democrat Gary McCollum. And in possibly huge news, Democrat Dan Gecker is leading Republican Glen Sturtevant 53%-44% with 48/67 precincts reporting! With 6/20 precincts reporting, Don Shaw (D) has now fallen behind "Sideshow Bob" Marshall, 52%-48%. Democrat John Bell, on the other hand, leads Republican Chuong Nguyen 54%-44% with 6/27 precincts reporting.
UPDATE 8:07 pm: With 18/71 precincts reporting, Sen. John Edwards (D) is leading Republican Nancy Dye by a wide margin, 57%-36%, with almost all results from the Democratic stronghold of Roanoke City so far. With 5/64 precincts reporting, it's Sen. Dick Black (R) leading Democrat Jill McCabe 52%-48%.
UPDATE 8:04 pm: With 6/49 precincts reporting, it's Jeremy McPike (D) leading Hal Parrish (R) 54%-46%. Note that Manassas City, where Parrish is mayor, has not reported yet. Meanwhile, Dan Gecker (D) is leading Glen Sturtevant (R) 50%-47% with 39/67 precincts reporting -- note that Powhatan County hasn't reported, and that 14/30 precincts in Richmond City have yet to report. Oh, and Dominion Power's puppet, Sen. Frank Wagner (R) appears to be pulling away from Democrat Gary McCollum with 35/49 precincts reporting (it's now a 9-point lead for Wagner).
UPDATE 7:59 pm: Just gotta say again how great it is to see Democrats Christian Dorsey and Katie Cristol trouncing Republican Mike McMenamin -- now with 28/53 precincts reporting. Also good to see Don Shaw (D) leading Del. "Sideshow Bob" Marshall (R), albeit by just 4 percentage points with 4/20 precincts reporting. Sad to see wingnut Scott Lingamfelter (R) beating Democrat Sara Townsend by a more than 2:1 margin with 5/26 precincts reporting.
UPDATE 7:49 pm: Wiith 26/49 precincts in, Democrat Gary McCollum has fallen behind Republican Sen. Frank Wagner 54%-46%. Dan Gecker is now just 72 votes behind Glen Sturtevant, with 31/67 precincts reporting and most of Richmond City still to go. That's encouraging. :) Also, with 5/56 precincts reporting, Sen. Lynwood Lewis (D) is ahead of Republican Richard Ottinger 64%-36%. Also good.
UPDATE 7:46 pm: With 16/53 precincts reporting in Arlington County, Christian Dorsey and Katie Cristol appear to be cruising to easy victories over Republican/faux-"Independent" Michael McMenamin. Good news!
UPDATE 7:40 pm: With 12/92 precincts reporting, David Suetterlein (R) is leading Michael Hamlar (D) by a more than 2;1 margin. With 4/71 precincts reporting -- all in Roanoke City -- Sen. John Edwards (D) is leading Republican Nancy Dye 64$-31%. With 7/20 precincts reporting, Del. Ron Villanueva (R) leads Democrat Susan Hippen 57%-43%. With 6/24 precincts reporting, Del. Monty Mason (D) leads Republican Lara Overy 53%-47%. With 7/24 precincts reporting, Del. David Yancey (R) leads Democrat Shelly Simonds 53%-47%.
UPDATE 7:35 pm: With 11/52 precincts in, Sen. Miller is crushing Mark Matney, this one's over. With 8/49 precincts in, McCollum leads 2,618-2,578 over Sen. Wagner. That one would be huge if Dems could win it! In unsurprising news, Amanda Chase (R) is crushing Wayne Powell (D) 64%-36%, with 40/53 precincts reporting. Sen. Rosalyn Dance (D) is crushing "Independent" Joe Morrissey, who's still on the ballot for whatever stupid reason. Oh, and Dan Gecker is trailing Glen Sturtevant 52%-45% with 26/67 precincts reporting.
UPDATE 7:30 pm: With 6/52 precincts reporting, Sen. John Miller (D) is leading 2;1 over Mark Matney (R). With 5 of 49 precincts reporting, Gary McCollum (D) is leading 1,700-1,623 over Sen. Frank Wagner (R).
UPDATE 7:21 pm: Not looking good in Chesterfield County for Dan Gecker right now (he's trailing 8,639-6,726). That's bad news for Gecker, as he's on the Board of Supervisors there, and that was one of the main arguments for his candidacy - that he could perform well in Chesterfield, at least hold down the Republican's margin of victory. And if Democrats don't pick up this State Senate seat, it's extremely unlikely that Dick Saslaw will be majority leader in 2016.
UPDATE 7:10 pm: In Chesterfield County, Dan Gecker (D) is trailing Glen Sturtevant (R) 6,216-5,034. Wayne Powell (D) is trailing Amanda Chase (R) 10,161-5,401.
