2021 Virginia lieutenant gubernatorial election explained

Election Name:2021 Virginia lieutenant gubernatorial election
Country:Virginia
Type:presidential
Ongoing:no
Previous Election:2017 Virginia lieutenant gubernatorial election
Previous Year:2017
Next Election:2025 Virginia lieutenant gubernatorial election
Next Year:2025
Election Date:November 2, 2021
Image1:File:Winsome Sears in November 2021.jpg
Nominee1:Winsome Sears
Party1:Republican Party (United States)
Popular Vote1:1,658,332
Percentage1:50.71%
Nominee2:Hala Ayala
Party2:Democratic Party (United States)
Popular Vote2:1,608,030
Percentage2:49.17%
Map Size:300px
Lieutenant Governor
Before Election:Justin Fairfax
Before Party:Democratic Party (United States)
After Election:Winsome Sears
After Party:Republican Party (United States)
Time Zone:EDT

The 2021 Virginia lieutenant gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 2021, to elect the next lieutenant governor of Virginia. Incumbent Democratic Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax was eligible to run for a second term, but instead unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.[1] On November 3, Hala Ayala conceded the race,[2] making Republican Winsome Sears the first black woman to be elected to the lieutenant governorship of Virginia or any statewide office, as well as the first woman elected lieutenant governor in Virginia's history. Sears was also the first Jamaican-American to become a lieutenant governor.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

Eliminated in primary

Withdrawn

Declined

Polling

Poll sourceDate(s)
administered
Sample
size
Margin
of error
Hala AyalaElizabeth GuzmanMark LevineAndria McClellanSean PerrymanSam RasoulXavier WarrenOtherUndecided
Roanoke CollegeMay 24 – June 1, 2021637 (LV)± 3.9%16%3%7%7%3%11%2%45%
Christopher Newport UniversityApril 11–20, 2021806 (LV)± 3.9%2%4%2%2%1%12%2%1%64%

Results

Republican convention

After months of uncertainty, the Republican Party of Virginia State Central Committee decided to hold an "unassembled convention" to select their nominees for governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general, as opposed to holding a state run primary. The convention was held May 8 using ranked choice voting.[13]

Candidates

Nominated at convention

Defeated at convention

Results

Virginia GOP Convention, Lieutenant Governor nominee[18] - style="background:#eee; text-align:center;" ! rowspan=2 style="text-align:center;" Candidate ! colspan=2 style="text-align:center;" Round 1 ! colspan=2 style="text-align:center;" Round 2 ! colspan=2 style="text-align:center;" Round 3 ! colspan=2 style="text-align:center;" Round 4 ! colspan=2 style="text-align:center;" Round 5 - ! Votes % ! Votes % ! Votes % ! Votes % ! Votes % - ! scope="row" style="text-align:left;" 4,075.68 32.5% 4,300.11 34.3% 4,626.70 36.9% 5,425.91 43.2% 6,827.89 54.4% - - ! scope="row" style="text-align:left;" 2,824.17 22.5% 2,987.20 23.8% 3,184.76 25.4% 3,816.11 30.4% 5,726.11 45.6% - - ! scope="row" style="text-align:left;" 2,536.77 20.2% 2,675.44 21.3% 2,838.05 22.6% 3,311.97 26.4% ! colspan=2 style="text-align:center;" - - ! scope="row" style="text-align:left;" 1,538.80 12.3% 1701.82 13.6% 1,904.50 15.2% ! colspan=4 style="text-align:center;" - - ! scope="row" style="text-align:left;" 818.95 6.5% 889.43 7.1% ! colspan=6 style="text-align:center;" - - ! scope="row" style="text-align:left;" 759.62 6.1% ! colspan=8 style="text-align:center;" -

General election

Polling

Graphical summary
Poll sourceDate(s)
administered
Sample
size
Margin
of error
Hala
Ayala (D)
Winsome
Sears (R)
OtherUndecided
The Trafalgar Group (R)October 29–31, 20211,081 (LV)± 3.0%47%50%1%2%
Echelon Insights (R) October 27–29, 2021611 (LV)± 4.0%46%48%6%
Roanoke CollegeOctober 14–28, 2021571 (LV)± 4.7%46%44%0%10%
Washington Post/Schar SchoolOctober 20–26, 20211,107 (RV)± 3.5%48%44%3%3%
918 (LV)± 4.0%50%46%1%3%
Christopher Newport UniversityOctober 17–25, 2021944 (LV)± 3.5%49%48%3%
Suffolk UniversityOctober 21–24, 2021500 (LV)± 4.4%46%44%10%
co/efficient (R)October 20–21, 2021785 (LV)± 3.5%46%47%7%
Cygnal (R)October 19–21, 2021816 (LV)± 3.4%47%47%6%
Virginia Commonwealth UniversityOctober 9–21, 2021722 (LV)± 6.4%36%35%16%13%
Data for Progress (D)October 4–15, 20211,589 (LV)± 2.0%47%42%3%8%
Christopher Newport UniversitySeptember 27 – October 6, 2021802 (LV)± 4.2%48%44%8%
Roanoke CollegeSeptember 12–26, 2021603 (LV)± 4.6%45%40%1%14%
KAConsulting LLC (R)September 17–19, 2021700 (LV)± 3.7%34%24%3%40%
Virginia Commonwealth UniversitySeptember 7–15, 2021731 (LV)± 6.9%33%30%20%16%
University of Mary WashingtonSeptember 7–13, 20211,000 (A)± 3.1%38%38%6%18%
528 (LV)± 4.1%41%47%2%10%
Monmouth UniversityAugust 24–29, 2021802 (RV)± 3.5%43%42%2%14%
Christopher Newport UniversityAugust 15–23, 2021800 (LV)± 3.6%52%42%1%6%
Roanoke CollegeAugust 3–17, 2021558 (LV)± 4.2%42%36%2%20%
Virginia Commonwealth UniversityAugust 4–15, 2021770 (RV)± 5.4%38%31%19%12%
~747 (LV)± 5.5%39%31%17%12%
JMC Analytics and Polling (R)June 9–12, 2021550 (LV)± 4.2%42%36%22%

Results

Results by congressional district

Sears won 6 of 11 congressional districts, including two that were represented by Democrats.[19]

DistrictAyalaSearsRepresentative
41%59%Rob Wittman
46%54%Elaine Luria
62%38%Bobby Scott
57%43%Donald McEachin
40%60%Bob Good
34%66%Ben Cline
45%55%Abigail Spanberger
73%27%Don Beyer
26%74%Morgan Griffith
52%47%Jennifer Wexton
67%33%Gerry Connolly

See also

Notes

Partisan clients

External links

Official campaign websites

Notes and References

  1. Regardless of who won the election, it would have been the first time in Virginia history that a female became Lieutenant Governor. Web site: Constitution of Virginia – Article V. Executive. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20190423211656/https://law.lis.virginia.gov/constitution/article5/section13/. 2019-04-23. 2019-04-23. law.lis.virginia.gov.
  2. Ayala . Hala . Hala Ayala . HalaAyala . 1455943965304315911 . November 3, 2021 . Virginia, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. The results are in, and while they may not be what we had hoped for, this is just the beginning. (1/8) . en . November 9, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211103170429/https://twitter.com/HalaAyala/status/1455943965304315911 . November 3, 2021 . live.
  3. News: Olivo . Antonio . Virginia Del. Hala Ayala announces bid for lieutenant governor . Washington Post . en . July 14, 2020 . July 14, 2020 . July 14, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200714145607/https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/virginia-hala-ayala-lieutenant-governor/2020/07/13/9c828cbe-c516-11ea-a99f-3bbdffb1af38_story.html . live .
  4. News: Del. Mark Levine joins the crowded race for Virginia lieutenant governor . December 21, 2020 . Vozzella . Laura . . December 28, 2020 . December 22, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201222073743/https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/del-mark-levine-joins-the-crowded-race-for-virginia-lieutenant-governor/2020/12/20/b321e71c-42ed-11eb-975c-d17b8815a66d_story.html . live .
  5. News: Vozzella. Laura. Norfolk City Council member Andria McClellan to run for Virginia lieutenant governor. en-US. Washington Post. 2020-12-01. 0190-8286. 2020-12-01. https://web.archive.org/web/20201201155337/https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/norfolk-mcclellan-lieutenant-governor/2020/12/01/ef2c42b6-3357-11eb-8d38-6aea1adb3839_story.html. live.
  6. Web site: CAIN. ANDREW. Fairfax NAACP leader Sean Perryman announces Democratic bid for LG. 2020-10-14. Richmond Times-Dispatch. 13 October 2020 . en. 2020-10-16. https://web.archive.org/web/20201016104834/https://richmond.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/fairfax-naacp-leader-sean-perryman-announces-democratic-bid-for-lg/article_645ddf89-17c3-57c1-9151-86be698fda20.html. live.
  7. Web site: Domingo. Ida. 2020-10-20. Delegate Sam Rasoul announces candidacy for Virginia Lt. Governor. 2020-10-20. WSET. 2020-11-01. https://web.archive.org/web/20201101090240/https://wset.com/news/local/delegate-sam-rasoul-announces-candidacy-for-virginia-lt-governor. live.
  8. Web site: Baylor. Kaicey. 2020-09-22. Pittsylvania County native announces candidacy for Virginia Lt. Governor. 2020-10-05. WSET. 2021-10-07. https://web.archive.org/web/20211007012249/https://wset.com/news/local/pittsylvania-county-native-announces-candidacy-for-lt-governor. live.
  9. Web site: Amy. Friedenberger. Paul Goldman drops out of lieutenant governor race. 2021-04-19. Roanoke Times. April 2021 . en. 2021-04-19. https://web.archive.org/web/20210419205516/https://roanoke.com/news/paul-goldman-drops-out-of-lieutenant-governor-race/article_58f9b636-92fa-11eb-aa30-ffb4d50574b9.html. live.
  10. Web site: Brown. Bob. Guzman withdraws from lieutenant governor's race, will vie to keep her House seat. 2021-04-17. Richmond Times Dispatch. 17 April 2021 . en. 2021-04-17. https://web.archive.org/web/20210417151500/https://richmond.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/guzman-withdraws-from-lieutenant-governors-race-will-vie-to-keep-her-house-seat/article_682fe84d-5b41-5242-bc8e-787ec0e2296b.html?utm_source=RTD&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=Breaking%20News. live.
  11. Web site: Albiges. Marie. Charlottesville's Kellen Squire ends bid for lieutenant governor. 2020-09-10. pilotonline.com. 13 December 2019 . 2020-09-13. https://web.archive.org/web/20200913094428/https://www.pilotonline.com/government/elections/vp-nw-kellen-squire-lieutenant-governor-drops-20191213-xnu7z57axvb4zj2nno4bwpqdry-story.html. live.
  12. Web site: 2019-12-19. Virginia Lt. Gov. Fairfax announces plan to run for governor in 2021. 2020-09-10. WTKR. en. 2020-09-10. https://web.archive.org/web/20200910180830/https://www.wtkr.com/2019/12/19/virginia-lt-gov-fairfax-announces-plan-to-run-for-governor-in-2021. live.
  13. News: Unorthodox Republican contest for Virginia governor breeds confusion, suspicion. en-US. Washington Post. 2021-07-01. 0190-8286. 2021-04-09. https://web.archive.org/web/20210409124342/https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/virginia-gop-convention/2021/04/04/4bfe8fc4-9228-11eb-a74e-1f4cf89fd948_story.html. live.
  14. Web site: Ley. Ana. Winsome E. Sears, once a local Republican on the rise, announces bid for lieutenant governor. January 21, 2021. The Virginian Pilot. 21 January 2021 . January 23, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210123035534/https://www.pilotonline.com/government/virginia/vp-nw-winsome-sears-lieutenant-governor-20210121-sabvuccn5jatrk2fbs3jayatzi-story.html. live.
  15. Web site: Northern Virginia business consultant Puneet Ahluwalia announces GOP run for LG . September 28, 2020 . Cain . Andrew . . December 28, 2020 . January 30, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210130155652/https://richmond.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/northern-virginia-business-consultant-puneet-ahluwalia-announces-gop-run-for-lg/article_703f5b3d-bf5c-5b3f-a4a4-82d155274195.html . live .
  16. News: Crowded field in 2021 Va. lieutenant governor's race . October 5, 2020 . Olivo . Antonio . Vozzella . Laura . . December 28, 2020 . January 1, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210101040159/https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/virginia-lieutenant-governor-race-2021/2020/10/05/f0b5c682-033e-11eb-a2db-417cddf4816a_story.html . live .
  17. Web site: 2021 Nomination. 2021-03-26. Republican Party of Virginia. en-US. 2021-03-25. https://web.archive.org/web/20210325070459/https://virginia.gop/2021-nomination/. live.
  18. Web site: Virginia GOP Convention, Lieutenant Governor Nominee Ranked Choice Voting Election Results Visualization . rcvis.com . RCVis . May 12, 2021 . May 12, 2021 . May 12, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210512002455/https://rcvis.com/v/va-gop-lt#tabular-candidate-by-round . live .
  19. Web site: Dra 2020 .