2020 United States presidential election in Virginia

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Turnout	75.08 5.8 pp[1]
Nominee Joe Biden Donald Trump Party Democratic Republican Home state Delaware Florida Running mate Kamala Harris Mike Pence Electoral vote 13 0 Popular vote 2,413,568 1,962,430 Percentage 54.11% 44.00%
County and independent city results Congressional district results Precinct results[original research?] Biden   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90%   90–100% Trump   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90%   90–100% Tie/No Data
President before election Donald Trump Republican Elected President Joe Biden Democratic

Elections in Virginia
Federal government U.S. President 1788–89 1792 1796 1800 1804 1808 1812 1816 1820 1824 1828 1832 1836 1840 1844 1848 1852 1856 1860 1872 1876 1880 1884 1888 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 Dem GOP 2012 2016 Dem 2020 Dem 2024 Dem GOP U.S. Senate 1788 1790 (sp) 1791 1792 (sp) 1793 1794 (sp) 1796 1798 1799 (sp) 1803 1803 (sp) 1804 1804 (sp) 1808 1809 1811 1814 1814 (sp) 1815 (sp) 1816 1816 (sp) 1819 (sp) 1821 1822 (sp) 1823 1824 1824 (sp) 1827 1829 1832 (sp) 1833 1834 (sp) 1835 1836 (sp) 1837 1837 (sp) 1839 1840 1841 (sp) 1845 1845 (sp) 1846 1847 (sp) 1850 1852 1856 1858 1861 (sp) 1863 1865 1865 (sp) 1870 1871 1875 1877 1881 1883 1887 1889 1893 1893 (sp) 1894 1899 1899 1904 1906 1910 1911 1912 1912 (sp) 1916 1918 1920 (sp) 1922 1924 1928 1930 1933 (sp) 1934 1936 1940 1942 1946 1946 (sp) 1948 1952 1954 1958 1960 1964 1966 1966 (sp) 1970 1972 1976 1978 1982 1984 1988 1990 1994 1996 2000 2002 2006 2008 2012 2014 2018 2020 2024 2026 U.S. House 1789 1790 9th sp 1793 1795 1797 1798 (9th sp) 1799 1800 (13th sp) 1801 1803 1804 5th sp 13th sp 1805 13th sp 1807 17th sp 1809 21st sp 1st sp 1811 1813 1814 (11th sp) 1815 15th sp 1816 18th sp 23rd sp 1817 1818 (19th sp) 1819 1820 1st sp 10th sp 17th sp 20th sp 1821 1822 (2nd sp) 1823 1824 (13th sp) 1825 1826 (5th sp) 1827 1829 10th sp 1831 1833 1835 1837 1839 1841 1843 1845 1847 1849 1851 1853 1855 1857 1859 4th sp 1861 11th sp 1862 (1st sp) 1869 1870 1872 1874 1876 1878 1880 1882 1884 7th sp 1886 1888 1890 1892 1894 7th sp 1896 1898 1900 1902 1904 1906 1908 1910 1912 1914 1916 1918 1st sp 1920 4th sp 1922 1924 1926 1928 1930 1932 1934 1936 1938 1940 1942 1944 2nd sp 1946 5th sp 6th sp 7th sp 1948 4th sp 1950 1952 1954 1956 1958 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1970 1972 6th sp 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 5th sp 1990 1991 (7th sp) 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2001 (4th sp) 2002 8th 2004 2006 2007 (1st sp) 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 10th 2020 2022 2023 (4th sp)
State government Governor 1776 1851 1855 1859 1863 C U 1869 1873 1877 1881 1885 1889 1893 1897 1901 1905 1909 1913 1917 1921 1925 1929 1933 1937 1941 1945 1949 1953 1957 1961 1965 1969 1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2009 2013 2017 2021 2025 Lieutenant Governor 1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2009 2013 2017 2021 2025 Attorney General 1993 1997 2001 2005 2009 2013 2017 2021 2025 Senate 1967 1971 1975 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023 House of Delegates 1975 1977 1979 1981 1982 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 2021 2023 State elections 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2023
Ballot measures Statewide 1970 1972 1974 1976 1977 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1987 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 Fairfax County 2016
Alexandria Mayor 2012 2015 2018 2021 (List)
Hampton Mayor 2016
Henrico County Commonwealth's Attorney 2011 2015 2019
Norfolk Mayor 2006 2010 2014 2016
Richmond Mayor 2016 2020 2024 City Council 2016
Virginia Beach Mayor 2008 2012 2016 2018 2020 City Council 2020
v t e

The 2020 United States presidential election in Virginia was held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, as part of the 2020 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated.^[2] Virginia voters chose electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote, pitting the Republican Party's nominee, incumbent President Donald Trump, and running mate Vice President Mike Pence against Democratic Party nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, and his running mate California Senator Kamala Harris. Virginia has 13 electoral votes in the Electoral College.^[3]

Prior to the election, most news organizations considered this a state Biden would win, or a likely blue state. On the day of the election, Biden won Virginia with 54.11% of the vote, and by a margin of 10.11%, the best performance for a Democratic presidential candidate since Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944.^[4] Trump became the first Republican incumbent to consecutively lose Virginia since William Howard Taft and Biden became the first Democratic nominee to win Chesterfield County and Lynchburg City since 1948, Virginia Beach City since 1964, James City County since 1968, and Stafford County since 1976.^[5] He also flipped Chesapeake City back to the Democratic Party. Trump flipped no counties or independent cities in the state. Nevertheless, Biden became the first Democrat since 1992 to win without Buckingham County and Essex County, and the first since 1960 to win without Westmoreland County, a notable bellwether. He was the first Democrat to ever win without Caroline County, Nelson County, or Covington.^{[citation needed]}

The diversification of Northern Virginia as well as sliding suburban support for Republicans allowed Biden to win the once-key battleground state without actively campaigning in it. Biden won Henrico County, Loudoun County, Prince William County, and Fairfax County with 63.7%, 61.5%, 62.6%, and 69.9%, respectively; all four were former suburban bastions of the Republican Party in Virginia, the first outside Richmond and the others in Northern Virginia. All four had voted Republican in every election from 1968 through 2000. In Arlington County, a closer DC-area suburban county that had turned Democratic several decades earlier, Biden won with 80.6% of the vote, becoming the first nominee of either party in more than a century to crack 80% there. Biden's combined margin in Fairfax, Prince William, Loudoun, and Arlington Counties was greater than his statewide margin of victory. Crucially for his performance in Northern Virginia, Biden carried government workers by 18%.^[6]

Primary elections

Canceled Republican primary

The Virginia Republican Party is one of several state GOP parties that have officially canceled their respective primaries and caucuses.^[7] Donald Trump's re-election campaign and GOP officials have cited the fact that Republicans canceled several state primaries when George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush sought a second term in 1992 and 2004, respectively; and Democrats scrapped some of their primaries when Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were seeking reelection in 1996 and 2012, respectively.^[8][9] At the Virginia State Republican Convention, originally scheduled for May 2020 but postponed to August 15, 2020, the state party will formally bind all 48 of its national pledged delegates to Trump.^[7][10][11]

Democratic primary

The Virginia Democratic primary took place on March 3, 2020, as part of the "Super Tuesday" suite of elections.

Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, and Bernie Sanders were among the major declared candidates.^[12]

Popular vote share by county

  Biden—30–40%

  Biden—40–50%

  Biden—50–60%

  Biden—60–70%

  Biden—70–80%

  Sanders—30–40%

  Sanders—40–50%

Popular vote share by congressional district

  Biden—40–50%

  Biden—50–60%

2020 Virginia Democratic presidential primary^[13][a]

Candidate	Votes	%	Delegates[15]
Joe Biden	705,501	53.30	67
Bernie Sanders	306,388	23.15	31
Elizabeth Warren	142,546	10.77	1
Michael Bloomberg	128,030	9.67
Tulsi Gabbard	11,288	0.85
Pete Buttigieg (withdrawn)[b]	11,199	0.85
Amy Klobuchar (withdrawn)[b]	8,414	0.64
Andrew Yang (withdrawn)[c]	3,361	0.25
Cory Booker (withdrawn)	1,910	0.14
Tom Steyer (withdrawn)[b]	1,472	0.11
Michael Bennet (withdrawn)[c]	1,437	0.11
Marianne Williamson (withdrawn)	902	0.07
Julian Castro (withdrawn)	691	0.05
Deval Patrick (withdrawn)[c]	370	0.03
Write-in votes	184	0.01
Total	1,323,693	100%	99

Green primary

The Green Party of Virginia conducted an online ranked choice primary from April 20 to April 26, 2020.^[16]

General election

Predictions

Polling

Graphical summary

Aggregate polls

Polls

Results

Results by city and county

Independent cities have been italicized.

Results by congressional district

Biden won 7 out of Virginia's 11 congressional districts.

Counties and independent cities that flipped from Republican to Democratic

• Chesapeake (independent city)
• Chesterfield (no municipalities)
• Lynchburg (independent city)
• James City (no municipalities)
• Stafford (no municipalities)
• Virginia Beach (independent city)

Analysis

In this election, Virginia voted 5.6% more Democratic than the nation as a whole. Although Virginia was considered a reliably Republican state at the presidential level from 1952 to 2004 (having only gone to the Democrats once during that period, in Lyndon B. Johnson's 1964 landslide), it has not voted Republican in a presidential election since 2004. Migration into counties in Northern Virginia close to Washington, D.C. has tilted these densely populated areas towards the Democrats. This was the first election since 1988 that a presidential candidate won Virginia by double digits (George H. W. Bush having carried the state by 20.5% in his first run), and the first election in which any presidential candidate received over 2 million votes in Virginia.

As fellow Southern state Georgia tilted towards Biden, he became the first Democrat since Harry Truman in 1948 to carry both states. Conversely, Virginia and Florida continued drifting apart after a more-than-100-year run (from 1880 through 2012) of voting alike in almost every election (only voting differently in 1976 and 1996, when the Democratic nominees won Florida but lost Virginia.) In 2016, Hillary Clinton became the first Democrat since Reconstruction to win Virginia while losing Florida, a pattern that would be repeated with Biden in 2020. This was also the first election in which a former Confederate state backed a Democratic candidate by a margin of victory greater than 10% since 1996, when Arkansas and Louisiana did so for Bill Clinton.

Following the election, news and political analysts considered the presidential results in Virginia, along with Democrats holding the senate seat held by Mark Warner, their house congressional majority, plus the previous year's elections in which Democrats flipped the state General Assembly, to be indicative that it was no longer a swing state, but a blue state.^[32][33]

This would be short lived, however, as the following year's elections saw the Republican Party flip the Democratic held offices of the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, along with the House of Delegates, though Democrats kept control of the Virginia Senate and a narrow 6-5 majority in the 2022 U.S. House elections, putting the Old Dominion back as a swing state.^[34][35]

Voter demographics