The 2018 United States House of Representatives elections in Virginia were held on November 6, 2018, to elect the 11 U.S. representatives from the state of Virginia, one from each of the state's 11 congressional districts. The elections coincided with other states' elections to the House of Representatives, elections to the United States Senate and various state and local elections. Primary elections took place on June 12.
The state congressional delegation flipped from a 7–4 Republican majority to a 7–4 Democratic majority. Democrats last held a majority of seats in the state in 2010.
Statewide results PartyCandidatesVotesSeats %+/– %Democratic111,867,06156.69%7363.64%Republican101,408,70142.77%4336.36%Libertarian313,9950.42%00.0%Write-in114,0500.12%00.0%Total353,293,807100%11100%
By district Results of the 2018 United States House of Representatives elections in Virginia by district:
DistrictDemocraticRepublicanOthersTotalResult Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes %District 1 148,464 44.70% 183,250 55.18% 387 0.12% 332,101 100.0% Republican holdDistrict 2 139,571 51.05% 133,458 48.81% 371 0.14% 273,400 100.0% Democratic gainDistrict 3 198,615 91.22% 0 0.00% 19,107 8.78% 217,722 100.0% Democratic holdDistrict 4 187,642 62.58% 107,706 35.92% 4,506 1.50% 299,854 100.0% Democratic holdDistrict 5 145,040 46.65% 165,339 53.18% 547 0.18% 310,926 100.0% Republican holdDistrict 6 113,133 40.21% 167,957 59.69% 287 0.10% 281,377 100.0% Republican holdDistrict 7 176,079 50.34% 169,295 48.40% 4,429 1.27% 349,803 100.0% Democratic gainDistrict 8 247,137 76.10% 76,899 23.68% 712 0.22% 324,748 100.0% Democratic holdDistrict 9 85,833 34.75% 160,933 65.16% 214 0.09% 246,980 100.0% Republican holdDistrict 10 206,356 56.11% 160,841 43.73% 598 0.16% 367,795 100.0% Democratic gainDistrict 11 219,191 71.11% 83,023 26.93% 6,036 1.96% 308,250 100.0% Democratic holdTotal 1,867,061 56.36% 1,408,701 42.52% 37,194 1.12% 3,312,956 100.0%
District 1
Incumbent Republican Rob Wittman, who had represented the district since 2007, ran for re-election. He was re-elected with 60% of the vote in 2016. The district had a PVI of R+8.
Republican primary Wittman was unopposed for the Republican nomination.
Candidates Nominee Rob Wittman, incumbent U.S. representative
Democratic primary Candidates Nominee Vangie Williams, strategic planner, professional genealogist, historian, and professional speaker
Eliminated in primary Edwin Santana, former Marine John Suddarth, Army veteran and businessman
Withdrawn Ryan Sawyers, Prince William County School Board chair
Results Vangie Williams defeated both Edwin Santana and John Suddarth in the Democratic primary, becoming the first woman of color to ever win a primary for congressional office throughout Virginia.
General election Predictions SourceRankingAs of The Cook Political ReportNovember 5, 2018 Inside ElectionsNovember 5, 2018 Sabato's Crystal BallNovember 5, 2018RCPNovember 5, 2018Daily KosNovember 5, 2018538November 7, 2018CNNOctober 31, 2018PoliticoNovember 4, 2018
Endorsements
Debate + 2018 Virginia's 2nd congressional district debate Date Host Moderator Link Republican DemocraticKey: Participant Absent Not invited Invited Withdrawn Rob Wittman Vangie Williams1 Oct. 22, 2018 University of Mary Washington C-SPAN
Results
District 2
Incumbent Republican Scott Taylor, who had represented the district since 2016, ran for re-election. He was elected with 61% of the vote in 2016. The district had a PVI of R+3. This was one of only two GOP held seats that voted for Democrat Ralph Northam in 2017.
Republican primary Campaign Taylor was challenged in the Republican primary by former James City County Supervisor Mary Jones, who attacked Rep. Taylor for his moderate stances and because she believed he had not backed President Donald Trump's proposals strongly enough.
Candidates Nominee Scott Taylor, incumbent U.S. representative
Eliminated in primary Mary Jones, former James City County Supervisor
Endorsements
Results
Democratic primary Campaign The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee supported Elaine Luria, a United States Naval commander, for the nomination.
Candidates Nominee Elaine Luria, United States Naval commander
Eliminated in primary Karen Mallard, teacher
Declined Shaun Brown, community activist and nominee for this seat in 2016
Results
Independents Candidates Withdrawn Shaun Brown, community activist and Democratic nominee for this seat in 2016 Padraig-Eoin Dalrymple, entrepreneur
General election Campaign Brown signature fraud Roanoke Commonwealth's Attorney Donald Caldwell had been appointed as a special prosecutor to investigate claims that Taylor's aides forged signatures, including those of Delegate Glenn Davis and his wife, on Shaun Brown's petitions to make the ballot as an independent candidate. Taylor had already cut ties with his campaign manager when these irregularities came to light and promised to cooperate with the investigation, and said that the irregularities in the petitions should have no bearing on Brown's right to be on the ballot.
Shaun Brown submitted 2,163 petition signatures which actually went through the verification process. 1,030 of those were considered valid. Democrats asked the Virginia State Board of Elections to remove Brown from the ballot for falling short of the 1,000 signatures required, and filed suit. They also asked Attorney General of Virginia Mark Herring to investigate.
A review of the signatures also revealed that more than 50 Virginia Beach sheriff's employees had signed petition forms at work to get Brown on the ballot during the closing days of the petition drive, when petitioners were scrambling to meet the deadline.
Brown was accused by federal prosecutors of lying to the Federal Election Commission about donating $700,000 to her campaign and bilking the government by falsifying the number of meals her nonprofit fed to needy children, but her trial—in which Brown testified in her own defense and was subjected to a lengthy cross-examination—ended in a mistrial after the jury deadlocked 11–1. In a new trial the following October, Brown was convicted of fraud conspiracy, two counts of wire fraud and theft of government property. In March, 2019 Brown was sentenced to three years in prison.
In September, circuit judge Gregory Rupe ordered Brown off the ballot. Brown subsequently appealed to the Virginia Supreme Court but justices declined to hear her case. The Virginia Attorney General's office argued that it was too late for her to appear on the ballot.
Endorsements
Debate + 2018 Virginia's 2nd congressional district debate Date Host Moderator Link Republican DemocraticKey: Participant Absent Not invited Invited Withdrawn Scott Taylor Elaine Luria1 Oct. 23, 2018 Hampton RoadsChamber of Commerce Bob HollsworthC-SPAN
Polling Poll source Date(s)administered Samplesize Margin oferror ScottTaylor (R) ElaineLuria (D) UndecidedChange Research (D)Change Research (D) November 2–4, 2018 710 – 47% 47% 6%NYT Upshot/Siena CollegeNYT Upshot/Siena College October 18–22, 2018 508 ± 4.6% 45% 42% 13%Christopher Newport UniversityChristopher Newport University October 3–12, 2018 798 ± 4.0% 50% 43% 7%NYT Upshot/Siena CollegeNYT Upshot/Siena College September 26 – October 1, 2018 500 ± 4.5% 49% 41% 10%Change Research (D)Change Research (D) September 26–28, 2018 758 – 46% 46% –Garin-Hart-Yang Research Group (D-Luria)Garin-Hart-Yang Research Group (D-Luria) September 5–8, 2018 404 ± 5.0% 43% 51% –Public Policy Polling (D)Public Policy Polling (D) April 16–17, 2018 609 ± 4.0% 48% 42% 10%
Predictions SourceRankingAs of The Cook Political ReportNovember 5, 2018 Inside ElectionsNovember 5, 2018 Sabato's Crystal BallNovember 5, 2018RCPNovember 5, 2018Daily KosNovember 5, 2018538November 7, 2018CNNOctober 31, 2018PoliticoNovember 4, 2018
Results
District 3
Incumbent Democrat Bobby Scott, who had represented the district since 1993, ran for re-election. He was re-elected with 67% of the vote in 2016. The district had a PVI of D+16.
Democratic primary Candidates Nominee Bobby Scott, incumbent U.S. representative
Republican primary No Republicans filed.
General election Scott ran unopposed as no Republican candidates filed for the district.
Predictions SourceRankingAs of The Cook Political ReportNovember 5, 2018 Inside ElectionsNovember 5, 2018 Sabato's Crystal BallNovember 5, 2018RCPNovember 5, 2018Daily KosNovember 5, 2018538November 7, 2018CNNOctober 31, 2018PoliticoNovember 4, 2018
Results
District 4
Incumbent Democrat Donald McEachin, who had represented the district since 2017, ran for re-election. He was elected with 58% of the vote in 2016. The district had a PVI of D+10.
Democratic primary McEachin ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination.
Candidates Nominee Donald McEachin, incumbent U.S. representative
Republican primary Candidates Nominee Ryan McAdams, pastor
Eliminated in primary Shion Fenty, fashion designer
Withdrawn David Leon
Results
General election Predictions SourceRankingAs of The Cook Political ReportNovember 5, 2018 Inside ElectionsNovember 5, 2018 Sabato's Crystal BallNovember 5, 2018RCPNovember 5, 2018Daily KosNovember 5, 2018538November 7, 2018CNNOctober 31, 2018PoliticoNovember 4, 2018
Endorsements
Results
District 5
Incumbent Republican Tom Garrett, who had represented the district since 2017, did not run for re-election. He was elected with 58% of the vote in 2016. The district had a PVI of R+6.
Republican convention Garrett announced on May 28, 2018, that he would not run for reelection due to his struggle with alcoholism. Instead of a traditional primary to elect the Democratic and Republican nominees, party delegates voted to hold district conventions instead.
The Republican convention was held on June 2, 2018, less than one week after Garrett announced he would not seek reelection. Denver Riggleman edged out Cynthia Dunbar, who had just lost the Republican nomination in the 6th district just weeks before, in the final round of voting to get the Republican nomination.
Candidates Nominee Denver Riggleman, distillery owner
Eliminated at the convention Martha Boneta, farmer Michael Del Rosso, technology executive Cynthia Dunbar, national GOP committee member Michael Webert, state delegate Joe Whited, veteran
Democratic convention The Democratic convention was held on May 5, 2018. The party delegates chose Leslie Cockburn as the Democratic nominee.
Candidates Nominee Leslie Cockburn, investigative journalist
Eliminated at the convention Roger Dean "RD" Huffstetler, Marine veteran Andrew Sneathern, former Albemarle County assistant attorney
General election Endorsements
Debates + 2018 Virginia's 5th congressional district debates Date Host Moderator Link Republican DemocraticKey: Participant Absent Not invited Invited Withdrawn Denver Riggleman Leslie Cockburn1 Sep. 28, 2018 Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public PolicyUniversity of Virginia Center for Effective LawmakingUniversity of Virginia College RepublicansUniversity of Virginia University Democrats Craig VoldenGerald WarburgYouTube 2 Oct. 8, 2018 Piedmont Virginia Community College Tyler HawnC-SPAN
Polling Poll source Date(s)administered Samplesize Margin oferror DenverRiggleman (R) LeslieCockburn (D) UndecidedNYT Upshot/Siena CollegeNYT Upshot/Siena College October 16–22, 2018 501 ± 4.6% 45% 46% 10%
Predictions SourceRankingAs of The Cook Political ReportNovember 5, 2018 Inside ElectionsNovember 5, 2018 Sabato's Crystal BallNovember 5, 2018RCPNovember 5, 2018Daily KosNovember 5, 2018538November 7, 2018CNNOctober 31, 2018PoliticoNovember 4, 2018
Results
District 6
Incumbent Republican Bob Goodlatte, who had represented the district since 1993, did not run for re-election. He was re-elected with 67% of the vote in 2016. The district had a PVI of R+13.