United States House of Representatives elections in Virginia, 2018
- General election: Nov. 6
- Voter registration deadline: Oct. 15
- Early voting: N/A
- Absentee voting deadline: Nov. 6
- Online registration: Yes
- Same-day registration: No
- Voter ID: Photo ID required
- Poll times: 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
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June 12, 2018 |
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The 2018 U.S. House of Representatives elections in Virginia took place on November 6, 2018. Voters elected 11 candidates to serve in the U.S. House, one from each of the state's 11 congressional districts.
Partisan breakdown
Heading into the November 6 election, the Republican Party held seven of the 11 congressional seats from Virginia.
| Members of the U.S. House from Virginia -- Partisan Breakdown | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | As of November 2018 | After the 2018 Election | |
| Democratic Party | 4 | 7 | |
| Republican Party | 7 | 4 | |
| Total | 11 | 11 | |
Incumbents
Heading into the 2018 election, the incumbents for the 11 congressional districts were:
| Name | Party | District |
|---|---|---|
| Rob Wittman | 1 | |
| Scott Taylor | 2 | |
| Bobby Scott | 3 | |
| Donald McEachin | 4 | |
| Tom Garrett | 5 | |
| Bob Goodlatte | 6 | |
| David Brat | 7 | |
| Don Beyer | 8 | |
| Morgan Griffith | 9 | |
| Barbara Comstock | 10 | |
| Gerald Connolly | 11 |
2016 Pivot Counties
Virginia features four congressional districts that, based on boundaries adopted after the 2010 census, intersected with one or more Pivot Counties. These 206 Pivot Counties voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012.
The 206 Pivot Counties are located in 34 states. Iowa, with 31, had the most such counties. Heading into the 2018 elections, the partisan makeup of the 108 congressional districts intersecting with Pivot Counties was more Republican than the partisan breakdown of the U.S. House. Of the 108 congressional districts that had at least one Pivot County, 63 percent were held by a Republican incumbent, while 55.4 percent of U.S. House seats were won by a Republican in the 2016 elections.[1]
Candidates
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District 1
General election
General election candidates
- Robert J. Wittman (Incumbent) (Republican Party) ✔
- Vangie Williams (Democratic Party)
Primary election
Democratic primary candidates
Did not make the ballot:
Republican primary candidates
- Robert J. Wittman (Incumbent) ✔
District 2
General election
General election candidates
- Scott Taylor (Incumbent) (Republican Party)
- Elaine Luria (Democratic Party) ✔
Did not make the ballot:
- Shaun Brown (Independent)
- Padraig-Eoin Dalrymple (Independent)
Primary election
Democratic primary candidates
Did not make the ballot:
Republican primary candidates
- Scott Taylor (Incumbent) ✔
- Mary Jones
District 3
General election
General election candidates
- Robert C. Scott (Incumbent) (Democratic Party) ✔
Primary election
Democratic primary candidates
This primary was canceled and this candidate advanced:
- Robert C. Scott (Incumbent) ✔
There are no official candidates yet for this election.
District 4
General election
General election candidates
- Aston Donald McEachin (Incumbent) (Democratic Party) ✔
- Ryan McAdams (Republican Party)
- Pete Wells (Libertarian Party)
Primary election
Democratic primary candidates
- Aston Donald McEachin (Incumbent) ✔
Republican primary candidates
Did not make the ballot:
District 5
General election
General election candidates
- Leslie Cockburn (Democratic Party)
- Denver Lee Riggleman III (Republican Party) ✔
- Write-in candidates
Primary election
Democratic convention candidates
Note: The 5th Congressional District Democratic Committee held a nominating convention on May 5, 2018.[3]
Republican convention candidates
Note: The 5th Congressional District Republican Committee held a nominating convention on June 2, 2018.[9]
- Withdrew
- Tom Garrett (Incumbent)[11]
District 6
General election
General election candidates
- Jennifer Lewis (Democratic Party)
- Benjamin Lee Cline (Republican Party) ✔
Did not make the ballot:
- Steve America (Independent)
- Michael Frend (Independent)
Primary election
Democratic primary candidates
= candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey
Republican convention candidates
Note: The 6th Congressional District Republican Committee held a nominating convention on May 19, 2018.[12]
- Ben Cline
[13]
- Cynthia Dunbar[14]
- Mike Desjadon[15]
- Chaz Haywood[16]
- Ed Justo[17]
- Kathryn Lewis[18]
- Elliot Pope[15]
- Douglas Wright[15]
- Declined to run
- Bob Goodlatte (Incumbent)[19]
District 7
General election
General election candidates
- David Brat (Incumbent) (Republican Party)
- Abigail Spanberger (Democratic Party) ✔
- Joe Walton (Libertarian Party)
= candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey
Primary election
Democratic primary candidates
Did not make the ballot:
Republican convention candidates
Note: The 7th Congressional District Republican Committee held a nominating convention on May 5, 2018.[20]
- David Brat (Incumbent)
District 8
General election
General election candidates
- Donald Sternoff Beyer Jr. (Incumbent) (Democratic Party) ✔
- Thomas Oh (Republican Party)
Did not make the ballot:
- Mike Webb (Independent)
= candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey
Primary election
Democratic primary candidates
This primary was canceled and this candidate advanced:
- Donald Sternoff Beyer Jr. (Incumbent) ✔
Republican convention candidates
Note: The 8th Congressional District Republican Committee scheduled a nominating convention to be held on April 28, 2018.[21]
District 9
General election
General election candidates
- H. Morgan Griffith (Incumbent) (Republican Party) ✔
- Anthony Flaccavento (Democratic Party)
Did not make the ballot:
- Scott Blankenship (Independent)
Primary election
Democratic primary candidates
Republican primary candidates
- H. Morgan Griffith (Incumbent) ✔
District 10
General election
General election candidates
- Barbara Comstock (Incumbent) (Republican Party)
- Jennifer Wexton (Democratic Party) ✔
Did not make the ballot:
- Nathan Larson (Independent)
Primary election
Democratic primary candidates
Did not make the ballot:
Republican primary candidates
- Barbara Comstock (Incumbent) ✔
- Shak Hill
District 11
General election
General election candidates
- Gerald Edward Connolly (Incumbent) (Democratic Party) ✔
- Jeffery Anthony Dove Jr. (Republican Party)
- Stevan Porter (Libertarian Party)
Did not make the ballot:
- Peter Carey (Modern Whig Party)
= candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey
Primary election
Democratic primary candidates
- Gerald Edward Connolly (Incumbent) ✔
Did not make the ballot:
Republican primary candidates
= candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey
Wave election analysis
- See also: Wave elections (1918-2016)
The term wave election is frequently used to describe an election cycle in which one party makes significant electoral gains. How many seats would Republicans have had to lose for the 2018 midterm election to be considered a wave election?
Ballotpedia examined the results of the 50 election cycles that occurred between 1918 and 2016—spanning from President Woodrow Wilson's (D) second midterm in 1918 to Donald Trump's (R) first presidential election in 2016. We define wave elections as the 20 percent of elections in that period resulting in the greatest seat swings against the president's party.
Applying this definition to U.S. House elections, we found that Republicans needed to lose 48 seats for 2018 to qualify as a wave election.
The chart below shows the number of seats the president's party lost in the 11 U.S. House waves from 1918 to 2016. Click here to read the full report.
| U.S. House wave elections | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | President | Party | Election type | House seats change | House majority[22] | |
| 1932 | Hoover | R | Presidential | -97 | D | |
| 1922 | Harding | R | First midterm | -76 | R | |
| 1938 | Roosevelt | D | Second midterm | -70 | D | |
| 2010 | Obama | D | First midterm | -63 | R (flipped) | |
| 1920 | Wilson | D | Presidential | -59 | R | |
| 1946 | Truman | D | First midterm | -54 | R (flipped) | |
| 1994 | Clinton | D | First midterm | -54 | R (flipped) | |
| 1930 | Hoover | R | First midterm | -53 | D (flipped) | |
| 1942 | Roosevelt | D | Third midterm | -50 | D | |
| 1966 | Johnson | D | First midterm[23] | -48 | D | |
| 1974 | Ford | R | Second midterm[24] | -48 | D | |
See also
- United States House of Representatives elections, 2018
- U.S. House battlegrounds, 2018
- U.S. House primaries, 2018
Footnotes
- ↑ The raw data for this study was provided by Dave Leip of Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.
- ↑ Ballotpedia staff, "Email correspondence with John Hargis," January 13, 2018
- ↑ Va 5th District Democrats, "2018 Call to Convention," accessed March 6, 2018
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 The Daily Progress, "Two more Democrats join 5th District race," July 17, 2017
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 The Cavalier Daily, "Two new candidates enter Fifth District race," June 1, 2017
- ↑ CBS 19 News, "Cullop drops out of race for Garrett's seat," April 17, 2018
- ↑ Augusta Free Press, "Huffstetler concedes Fifth District Democratic Party congressional race," May 3, 2018
- ↑ WINA Newsradio, "Adam Slate bows out of Democrats’ 2018 nomination race," accessed November 10, 2017
- ↑ The Washington Post, "GOP picks Denver Riggleman to replace Rep. Tom Garrett as nominee in Virginia’s 5th District," June 2, 2018
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Denver Riggleman enters race to replace Rep. Tom Garrett," May 28, 2018
- ↑ POLITICO, "Garrett to quit Congress amid servant scandal, alcoholism," May 28, 2018
- ↑ The News Virginian, "Cline wins Republican nomination for 6th congressional district seat," May 19, 2018
- ↑ WHSV 3, "Delegate Ben Cline announces run for Goodlatte's seat in Congress," November 9, 2017
- ↑ WHSV 3, "Cynthia Dunbar running for Goodlatte's seat in Congress," November 9, 2017
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 WHSV, "Eight Republicans seek 6th district nomination," January 18, 2018
- ↑ News Leader, "Harrisonburg Republican joins 6th District race," November 21, 2017
- ↑ Email submission to Ballotpedia, January 3, 2018
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 The News & Advance, "More GOP candidates emerge in contest for Goodlatte's 6th District seat," January 3, 2018
- ↑ Congressman Bob Goodlatte, "Goodlatte: It’s An Honor to Serve You," November 9, 2017
- ↑ Republican Party of Virginia, "7th Congressional District Convention," accessed January 16, 2019
- ↑ Virginia's 8th District Republican Committee, "2018 8th District Convention Details," February 7, 2018
- ↑ Denotes the party that had more seats in the U.S. House following the election.
- ↑ Lyndon Johnson's (D) first term began in November 1963 after the death of President John F. Kennedy (D), who was first elected in 1960. Before Johnson had his first midterm in 1966, he was re-elected president in 1964.
- ↑ Gerald Ford's (R) first term began in August 1974 following the resignation of President Richard Nixon (R), who was first elected in 1968 and was re-elected in 1972. Because Ford only served for two full months before facing the electorate, this election is classified as Nixon's second midterm.
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