In terms of where the overwhelming vote for Virginia Governor-Elect Ralph Northam came from last night, there were few surprises. (If there was any surprise, it was the breadth and depth of the Democratic sweep, which were historic.) But there was one statistic that floored me; one that should be part of every conversation during 2018.
First, the overall vote percentages (which were literally amazing):
Northam
53.89%
Gillespie
44.99%
The Source for all Statistics here is the Virginia Department of Elections. (These numbers have not yet been certified.)
In terms of Virginia politics, this was a blow-out.
The turn-out — largely driven, I think, by enthusiastic Democrats — was, as the Washington Post noted today:
the highest in 20 years for a gubernatorial race, five percentage points and 10 percentage points higher than the last two.
Washington Post
Voters went 4-1 for Ralph Northam in the City of Alexandria, the City of Falls Church and Arlington County, which are all reliably dark blue:
City of Alexandria
78.36% for Northam
Arlington County
80.07% for Northam
Falls Church
78.97% for Northam
Fairfax County is not as deep blue as Alexandria, Arlington or Falls Church, but the County is so huge (roughly one in eight Virginians lives there) that it is always the gorilla in elections.
Fairfax County
67.86% for Northam
Other strong blue places:
Henrico County
60.82% for Northam
Loudoun County (the size of the win here surprised me)
59.40% for Northam
Manassas (wow)
63.65% for Northam
Norfolk
73.60% for Northam
And then there was this:
Virginia Beach (a shocker — Virginia’s largest city; previously pink)
51.87% for Northam
Prince William County (where Corey Stewart serves)
60.74% for Northam
But THIS is what amazed me last night. The deepest blue spot in the entire Commonwealth?
Charlottesville.
And this (h/t DiesIrae)
This MUST be part of every conversation in 2018.
I