ROANOKE, Va. – If election results made one thing clear, it’s that Virginia isn’t red or blue - it’s purple.
“The movement in this state is clearly from blue to purple, and it is really, really divided,” 10 News Political Analyst Dr. Ed Lynch said.
Lynch said the 2023 election was tight.
“The fact that the Democrats swept the General Assembly has hidden something in those numbers, and that’s that the actual votes cast were very very close,” Lynch said.
Lynch said Democrats edged out Republicans in the State Senate by only half of 1%.
“The Democrats did a little bit better than that in the House races, but even there it was only 0.7%,” he said.
He told 10 News this is a shift in numbers from when Biden was elected.
“Joe Biden won this state by ten percentage points,” he said.
His key takeaway for the upcoming 2024 election? Neither side can afford to ignore Virginia.
“I don’t think Virginia is a state that Democrats can afford to take for granted anymore. Governor Youngkin’s election certainly demonstrated that, and again even though the results were ultimately disappointing for Republicans, and a big win for Democrats, it isn’t as big of a win when you get into the numbers themselves,” he said.
Lynch expects Republican hopefuls to make an appearance in the Commonwealth soon.
“Unless Trump wraps it up in Iowa and New Hampshire, Virginia is going to be a part of Super Tuesday. I think we can expect to see the Republican candidates probably pretty soon,” he said.
He said voters need to be ready for a close race come 2024.
“Voters need to pay particularly close attention to the candidates, to their platforms, to their promises, to their records, and to their trustworthiness,” Lynch said.