Pending a likely recount in Virginia Beach the Democrats will control the House of Delegates by a 55-45 margin (a net gain of 6 seats). The Senate will also be controlled by the Democrats, 21-19 (a net gain of 2 seats). The win will have a long-lasting impact as now the Democrats will have an unobstructed shot to redraw the electoral map to be used for the next decade.
As the Republicans lick their wounds and some play the blame game (Trump? guns?; changing demographics?; lack of message?), the House Democrat leadership held elections Saturday, November 9th. Current minority leader, Delegate Eileen Filer-Corn (Fairfax), was elected Speaker-designee. This marks the first time a woman has held that position. And, if there was any doubt the power and political clout will be in Northern Virginia moving forward – former party chair Delegate Charniele Herring (Alexandria) was elected Majority Leader and Delegate Rip Sullivan (Arlington) was elected Caucus Chair. All three have solid legislative experience and should prove to be steady hands during what promises to be a tumultuous legislative session for a myriad of reasons.
Committee Chairs and other roles will be determined closer to session. Meanwhile, current Speaker, Kirk Cox, has said he will not seek a leadership position in his caucus moving forward. More to come in the weeks ahead as things unfold. For your interest, below are links to a few news outlets covering yesterday’s story from around the state:
Richmond Times Dispatch: https://www.richmond.com/news/virginia/va-democrats-choose-del-eileen-filler-corn-of-fairfax-as/article_dc5740d1-e428-5337-ba56-8833b92347d5.html
Virginia Mercury: https://www.virginiamercury.com/2019/11/09/va-house-democrats-choose-eileen-filler-corn-as-speaker-designee/
WTOP: https://wtop.com/virginia/2019/11/eileen-filler-corn-nominated-to-be-1st-woman-speaker-in-va-house/