VIRGINIA, USA — Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his Vice Presidential running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, are the projected winners of Virginia’s 13 electoral votes, according to the Associated Press.
Of the three localities in the DMV, Virginia is the only one that has become somewhat of a swing state in the 21st century.
As one of the 13 original colonies, the commonwealth has participated in every presidential election except the 1864 and 1868 elections due to secession. Biden’s win in Virginia marks the fourth in a row for Democrats – with Hillary Clinton winning over Trump by 5.4% in 2016 -- but until Obama won the state in 2008, it had not gone blue since 1948.
From 1952 through 2004, Virginia was reliably Republican, save for the landslide victory of Lyndon Johnson over Barry Goldwater in 1964.
Biden describes himself as a center-left candidate and has run a campaign centered on building up the middle class, providing free COVID-19 testing and creating a national contact tracing program, tackling systemic racism, fighting climate change with a plan for clean energy future, expanding Obamacare and undoing Trump’s immigration policies.
*NOTE: While the Associated Press has projected Mark Warner will win re-election, the formal results show up as the votes are counted below.*
Biden served as 47th Vice President of the United States (2009-2017) under President Barack Obama, after being elected to seven terms as a U.S. Senator from Delaware. He spent part of his time in Congress as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and eight years as the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He led the effort to pass the Violence Against Women Act in 1994, and voted for authorization of the Iraq War in 2003 but has since criticized how it was handled.
With deep roots in the Senate, he was an active and influential vice president, helping to negotiate with Republicans to avoid budget crises. He also headed up a task force on gun control following the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newton, Conn. The passage of the Affordable Care Act, the implementation of the Recovery Act to stabilize the economy and traveling to more than 50 countries, are among the accomplishments Biden touts during his tenure as the former vice president.
Obama presented his VP with the Presidential Medal of Freedom – America’s highest civilian honor -- just before the pair left office. Obama added the veneration “with distinction” to the award, which had been given only three times previously.
Biden is no stranger to personal tragedy. In 1972, just six years after marrying his first wife Neilia Hunter, Neilia and Biden’s infant daughter, Naomi, died in a car crash; his two sons – Hunter and Beau -- were also seriously hurt. He considered putting his political career on hold after his wife and daughter died one month after his election to the Senate but chose to serve and took the oath from his sons’ hospital room. And in 2015, his son Beau died at age 46 after battling brain cancer.
The former vice president has run for president unsuccessfully twice before. In 1988 he dropped out after reports that he plagiarized part of a speech. He ran again in 2008, but struggled to gain traction and dropped out before being named as Obama’s running mate. He chose not to run in 2016 as his family grieved over Beau’s death. Biden later said in an interview that he felt he was the most qualified person but that he couldn’t put his whole heart and soul into a campaign at the time.
There are 538 electoral votes up for grabs in the election. At least 270 would put a candidate at more than 50% of the electoral vote. There has never been a 269-269 tie. If no candidate reaches 270, the presidency would be decided by the House members who are sworn in on January 3. Each state's House delegation would have one combined vote. If a majority of states go to one candidate, that candidate will be president.