Election 2025: Democrats gain a single House seat in Western Virginia

Fun with numbers: Virginia House Democrats doubled their representation in the western part of the state in the 2025 cycle – from one to two.

Both are in the Roanoke area: Sam Rasoul, who has represented the City of Roanoke in the House of Delegates since 2014, defeated independent Maynard Keller in HD 38 by 39 points; Lily Franklin, whose campaign texted me asking for money approximately 48,000 times this cycle, unseated Republican incumbent Chris Obenshain Jr. in HD 41, which represents Blacksburg and Roanoke County, by 2.4 points.

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ICYMI

• Message sent: Democrats sweep Virginia, New Jersey, New York City races on historic night
• Election 2025: Live coverage of statewide, House of Delegates races

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There were other races in our part of the state that kept our attention through the cycle and then last night, as the numbers rolled in, most notably, in HD 34, which represents Harrisonburg and Rockingham County.

Democrat Andrew Payton made it interesting, but ultimately came up short by 1,309 votes, 4.8 points, in his bid to unseat Republican incumbent Tony Wilt.

One thing I won’t get about that one: never was able to make contact with the Payton campaign.

I’m the editor of a left-of-center politics news website with millions of page visits a year based literally 30 miles down the road, and their preference was: tons of money on local TV ads.

Didn’t need to give me a dime – my business model keeps me free from entangling alliances.

Anyway, opportunity lost, maybe, maybe not.

One other race down in the Roanoke area showed promise, both during the walkup to Election Day and then throughout the night last night, in HD 40, where the Democrat, Donna Littlepage, put up 46.7 percent in her loss to Republican incumbent Joe McNamara.

McNamara won his most recent race in HD 40, in 2023, by 19.6 points – after posting wins 42, 33 and 25 points in his previous runs, in 2021, 2019 and 2017.

The 40th made my list of “long shots” still worth watching in the 2025 cycle because it was a Trump +9.1 district in 2024.

Credit to Littlepage for turning a district that four years ago was McNamara +42 into a six-point race in the 2025 cycle.

That could be groundwork for a second bid for her in 2027, if she’s interested – and if she’s not, it’s a foundation for somebody else on the D side to build on.