LoudounNow LOUDOUN COUNTY’S COMMUNITY-OWNED NEWS SOURCE
[ Vol. 2, No. 52 ]
[ loudounnow.com ]
[Nov. 9 – 15, 2017 ]
Let the Jingle Jam joy commence
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Sea of Blue Renss Greene/Loudoun Now
Vanessa Maddox, who won the Leesburg council race, embraces Wendy Gooditis on Election Day. In a huge upset, Gooditis unseated three-term Republican delegate Randy Minchew.
Loudoun GOP Loses All But 1 House Seat LOUDOUN NOW STAFF REPORT Democrats pulled off a decisive sweep of Loudoun County on Tuesday night, propelling Ralph Northam to the governor’s seat and reshaping the county’s General Assembly delegation. The Democrats’ statewide ticket— Northam, lieutenant governor candidate Justin Fairfax and Attorney General Mark Herring—dominated in Loudoun, pulling about 60 percent of the votes in their races. In the House of Delegates, Del. Dave LaRock (33rd) ended the night as the
only Republican standing in Loudoun. Veteran Republican delegates Tag Greason (32nd), Randy Minchew (10th) and Jim LeMunyon (67th) lost by significant margins to their respective Democratic challengers Wendy Gooditis, David Reid and Karrie Delaney—all first-time candidates. The Loudoun results helped Democrats erode GOP control of the state house. As of press time Tuesday, Democrats had flipped 15 districts, bringing control of the House within striking distance for the first time in 18 years. Just before midnight, one district was still in
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play to determine whether Republicans and Democrats would evenly split the House or if Republicans would just narrowly hold on to the majority. “What a great night. Loudoun kicked butt tonight,” County Chairwoman Phyllis Randall (D-At Large) told party supporters gathered at a local Democratic watch party at Palio’s in Leesburg. “Don’t go away next year and please don’t go away in ‘19.” Democrat John Bell (87th) said after regaining his seat, “Simply put, it’s magical.”
Flipping The House Loudoun is represented by seven state delegates and, just four years ago, all seven were in Republican hands. Today, Republicans hold 66 of the 100 House seats and, come January, that could be down to as few as 50. Republican Greason said he saw the blue wave coming well before Tuesday night. He told family before last year’s presidential election, if Democrat Hillary Clinton won, he would fairly easily hold SEA OF BLUE >> 47
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