Democrat Wins Key Virginia Race By 1 Vote After Recount, Ending The GOP’s 18-Year Majority

Democrats appear to have ended the 18-year Republican majority in the Virginia House of Delegates after a recount found that Democratic candidate Shelly Simonds defeated Republican incumbent David Yancey by a single vote.

The recount found that Simonds won the Nov. 7 election by just one vote after the original results showed Yancey winning by 10 votes, according to The Virginian Pilot.

Shelly Simonds celebrating outside. pic.twitter.com/YiPzCJfTqq

— Reema Amin (@reemadamin) December 19, 2017

Virginia Pilot correspondent Jordan Pascale notes that the votes will be considered “unofficial” until certified by a judge following the recount. A judge is expected to consider the recount results on Wednesday.

No contested ballots.
Judge panel will look at it tomorrow.

— Jordan Pascale (@JWPascale) December 19, 2017

“I’m thrilled,” Simonds told WTKR-TV shortly after learning about the results of the recount. “I’m just thinking about all of the possibilities all of the things we can get done in Richmond. Issues that we haven’t been able to get out of committee for the last 5 or 10 years, Non-partisan redistricting.”

Shelly Simonds talks about ONE vote recount win. https://t.co/wPA8U8k1yp pic.twitter.com/XI4yOOAf6J

— Brendan Ponton (@brendanponton) December 19, 2017

The Hill added:

The recount, an all-day affair, saw hundreds of ballots being counted by high-speed machines and between 200 and 250 “irregular” ballot being hand counted by election observers and officials, according to the Daily Press.

The House of Delegates is now split 50-50.

Virginia Democrats swung 15 seats in November, while also winning the governor’s, lieutenant governor’s and attorney general’s races.