By: Vice President of Political Operations, Anthony Reedy

As the dust settles from Tuesday’s state legislative elections, the Virginia REALTORS^® Government Relations team is analyzing the outcomes and what they mean for Virginia REALTORS^®.

A few high-level observations first.

For most of the past 25 years, Virginia has had a divided government, with Republicans and Democrats splitting control of the various levels of state management.

When the General Assembly convenes on January 8, 2020, one political party will control the Governorship, state House, and state Senate for the first time since 2013. As of this publication, the Democratic Party is projected to hold 55 of the 100 seats in the House of Delegates and 21 of the 40 state Senate seats.

There are a couple races that are within the one percent vote margin of victory that could possibly trigger a recount. Any election recounts will take a few weeks to complete. Regardless of the outcome of any potential recounts, the Democratic Party will control both chambers of the state legislature for the first time since 1996.

This switch in party control also means new leadership and committee structures, which will develop over the next couple of months.

The 2020 General Assembly will welcome at least 17 new members of the House of Delegates and five new members of the state Senate. That adds to the recent trend of high turnover in the legislative branch. Between 2017 and January 2019, the House of Delegates welcomed 24 new members. In the 2015-2018 time period, the state Senate had 12 new members join.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be sending you more information about our 2020 Legislative Agenda and insights on engaging the new legislature in January. In the meantime, feel free to email us at advocacy@virginiarealtors.org if you have any questions or thoughts about the Virginia REALTORS^® Government Relations efforts.