With all the hard work that was put forth by the kos community to put us over the top in VA we still have some work to do and its important that we stay involved. Please follow below the fold
As of right now, Mark Herring has a 164 vote lead over Mark Obenshain in the realllllllly close State Attorney General race. All the votes are to be certified by the 25th and in all likely hood a recount will occur. But if and when ,we hope, Herring officially wins he will have to resign his State Senate seat. His district went for Obama both times by good margins but in a special election for a State Senate seat, all bets are off and here is where it can get interesting.
Supposedly the GOP might get former State Delegate Joe T. May to run for Herring's seat and May could win, EASILY. He is not from the tea party wing and in fact was defeated at the GOP state convention by tea party darling Dave LaRock, who went on to win the seat in one of those really close races that we could have had. May served as the transportation chair in the house and he has served in the state house for over 20 years representing most of Herring's state senate district. In a special election he would have a good leg up with a small turnout election.
As I write this now, the Loudoun County Democratic Committee will be having a "firehouse" primary to decide who will run for the seat. So far the two candidates are Jennifer Wexton ,an attorney who had run and was defeated in a race for Commonwealth's Attorney in Loudoun, and Sheila Olem who sits on the Herndon Town Council. Herndon takes in a good but not a large part of the district so we shall see what happens. Wexton also has an issue that she doesn't live in Herring's district (33) but in Dick Black's district (13). So that can be an issue.
The problem is that if Herring wins, which he should, and we can't hold his Senate seat, the GOP will control the legislature totally and all that good work on election day will be for nothing. As of now with Ralph Northam resigning his seat due to his win for Lt. Governor, the GOP have a 20-19 control and one vacancy. You have 40 seats total in the VA State Senate. We can hold both of these seats but Herring's could be a really close one in a low turn out election especially if May enters. Don't know much more than that but myself and others who are more up to date than I will try and keep you posted.