Way of the K

Not looking good so far – looks like Colgan will hold serve in the 29th Senate district, while Devolites Davis (34th) and Jay O’Brien (39th) appear to be losing their races, and Ken Cuccinelli is neck and neck in the 37th with Oleszek. That race looks headed to a recount – the final margin was Cuccinelli by 91 votes with all precincts counted.

The GOP held a 23-17 seat edge in the State Senate going in, but with two seat losses in tidewater, looks like the Dems will emerge with a 21-19 split. This was necessary for control, as the GOP holds the Lt. Governor seat (Bill Bolling), which would break a tie for control of the chamber if the Dems didn’t pick up the 21st seat. The House of Delegates is in no danger of changing control; it is not even certain that the net seats between the parties will change.

Virginia Election Results

 Turnout appeared to be low, with the ballot mostly the two houses of the legislature, and some clerks of court, sheriffs and commonwealth’s attorneys races sprinkled in.

As for the State Senate – two Dems won by 722 and 846 votes respectively, while one GOPer held on by 91 votes. The 846 vote – the 39th seat previously held by Jay O’Brien – was enough to flip the chamber. O’Brien won the Prince William County portion by about 1100 votes, but lost the Fairfax County portion by about 1900 votes. Fairfax County was the real albatross for the Republicans – seeing two seats lost and a third almost lost.

 Some additional analysis from Mark Krikorian over at NRO’s The Corner:

The incoming state senate majority leader was right when he said of his opponents’ prospects “I did not think that immigration in and of itself would carry the day.” Message for 2008 candidates: immigration is a political winner when it’s highly salient, but it can’t compensate for a lackluster campaign.

In the end, the results read D D R R D D R R D R R R R R R D D D R D D R R R D R R R D D D D D D D D R D D R (1-40).  In the two party contested seats, the GOP netted 19737 votes. In the uncontested seats, the Dems netted 17970 votes, such that the GOP netted 1767 votes over the Dems in the two-party vote across all fourty state senate races.