The polls will shut quickly in Virginia, the place all 140 seats within the state Legislature can be contested in an off-year election that might function a bellwether for subsequent yr’s presidential race.
Virginia Republicans need to keep their slender majority within the Home of Representatives and overcome their management of the state Senate, the place Democrats at the moment have a 22-18 lead.
If Republicans take full management of the Legislature, their success would offer a transparent path for Gov. Glenn Youngkin to enact his coverage agenda, together with a proposed 15-week “cap” on abortion. The coverage would ban abortion after 15 weeks with exceptions for rape, incest and medical emergencies.
The potential of limiting entry to abortion has grow to be a scorching situation in Virginia, which is now the final remaining state within the southern United States with out strict restrictions on the process. Virginia Democrats consider continued voter dissatisfaction with the reversal of Roe v. Wade will assist them flip management of the Home of Delegates.
Opinion polls point out that the elections can be very shut. in line with Washington Post School Survey Char Final month, 47% of doubtless voters in Virginia indicated they supposed to assist a Democratic candidate for the Home of Delegates, whereas 45% stated the identical for a Republican candidate.
Virginia’s outcomes will function an indicator of the place swing voters stand in battleground states forward of the 2024 presidential election. Virginia has been trending Democratic in recent times, with Joe Biden successful the state by 10 factors in 2020. However Youngkin’s victory in 2021 proved that Virginia stays a battleground state, and Republicans are hoping the governor will make them victory on Tuesday.
If Republicans are profitable in Virginia, their victory will doubtless intensify hypothesis about Youngkin’s nationwide ambitions, because the governor has been named as a possible presidential nominee. To spice up Republicans’ probabilities, Youngkin inspired his supporters to vote early, regardless that Donald Trump has solid unfounded doubt on the legality of early voting and absentee voting.
Regardless of Yongqin’s efforts and the excessive stakes of the election, voter turnout seems to have declined as Tuesday approaches. In line with the information Assembly and production By the Virginia Public Entry Mission (VPAP), 776,931 voters have solid ballots as of Sunday. By comparability, 1,194,185 Virginians have already voted on the identical level in 2021.
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Polls in Virginia will shut Tuesday night at 7 PM ET, after which vote counting will start.
