The politics of Virginia are generally considered to be moderate and progressive, though there is some political diversity across the various regions of the state. Virginia has a long history of electing both Republican and Democratic governors, senators, representatives, and local officials. Elections in Virginia are typically very competitive, which makes it an interesting state for political observers. In recent years, the Democratic Party has become increasingly popular in Virginia as evidenced by their 2018 victories in several statewide elections. In addition to these prominent races at the statewide level, there are many important local elections that help shape the politics of Virginia's cities and counties. These local races often feature candidates from both major parties who have different views on key issues such as public education funding, taxes, environmental regulations, and economic development. The outcome of these campaigns can have a significant impact on the future of communities across the state.
The political climate in Virginia is somewhat liberal.
In Virginia 54.1% of the people voted for the Democratic Party in the last presidential election, 44.0% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.9% voted for an Independent Party.
In the last Presidential election, Virginia remained strongly Democratic, 54.1% to 44.0%.
Virginia voted Democratic in four most recent Presidential elections, after 2000 and 2004 went Republican.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Virginia is somewhat liberal.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index is based on recent voting in national elections, federal campaign contributions by local residents, and consumer personality profiles.
VoteWord™
Displaying 20 years of Presidential voting, visualized in one word.
Virginia, Virginia: r r d d d D
How It Works:
Here at BestPlaces, we were looking at the voting patterns since the 2000 election and realized that we could express the results of each election as one letter. R if the Republican Party candidate won, D for the Democrat and I for the Independent. The six elections (2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020) would be expressed as six-letter word (R R D R R R).
Then we went a little further and added the dimension of magnitude. If the difference of victory was greater than 10 percent, the letter is upper case, and lower case if the difference was less than 10 percent. This allows us to see interesting voting patterns at just a glance.
Here's the VoteWord for Iowa d r d d r r. In the last six elections the state has been closely contested, voting narrowly for the Republican Party candidate in 2016 and 2020 after voting for the Democratic Party in 2008 and 2012. Virginia (r r d d d D) has voted for the Democratic Party in the last four elections.
Individual Campaign Contributions in Virginia
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 544,923 contributions totaling $111,021,364 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $204 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 151,304 contributions totaling $139,155,453 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $920 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)