SPECIAL ELECTION RESULTS

Pat Herrity   50,732 (49.4%)
Sharon Bulova 51,949 (50.6%)

228 precincts (of 228) currently reporting

Winners by leg district (districts with a * have precincts outside Fairfax County):

SENATE
* 30th District, Patsy Ticer, Sharon Bulova
* 31st District, Mary Margaret Whipple, Sharon Bulova
32nd District, Janet Howell, Sharon Bulova
* 33rd District, Mark Herring, Pat Herrity
* 34th District, Chap Petersen, Sharon Bulova
* 35th District, Dick Saslaw, Sharon Bulova
* 36th District, Toddy Puller, Pat Herrity
37th District, Ken Cuccinelli, Pat Herrity
* 39th District, George Barker, Pat Herrity

HOUSE
34th District, Margi Vanderhye, Pat Herrity
35th District, Steve Shannon, Pat Herrity
36th District, Ken Plum, Sharon Bulova
* 37th District, David Bulova, Sharon Bulova
38th District, Bob Hull, Sharon Bulova
39th District, Vivian Watts, Sharon Bulova
40th District, Tim Hugo, Pat Herrity
41st District, Dave Marsden, Sharon Bulova
42nd District, Dave Albo, Pat Herrity
43rd District, Mark Sickles, Sharon Bulova
44th District, Kris Amundson, Sharon Bulova
* 45th District, David Englin, Sharon Bulova
* 46th District, Charniele Herring, Sharon Bulova
* 49th District, Adam Ebbin, Sharon Bulova
* 53rd District, Jim Scott, Sharon Bulova
* 67th District, Chuck Caputo, Pat Herrity
* 86th District, Tom Rust, Pat Herrity

Comments

YES!!! :)

Clearly, Herrity has won.

What I'm wondering...is why hasn't Creigh Deeds resigned? Why isn't he man enough to dedicate his full time to running for governor if he's serious?

I guess he'd rather screw his constituents by having his sights set on governor while he SHOULD be thinking about them in the legislature. If I get another one of his stupid e-mails, I'm going to scream!!!!!

Bulova 50
Herrity 48

10% Turnout

[HisRoc]

Ben,
The VA SBE is reporting that there are 229, not 228 precincts. Are you ignoring Mantua?
:)

[J~]

HisRoc - One is Absentee Ballots.

[notlarrysabato]

Bulova only won Vienna #2 by 5 votes- this is gonna be a close one.

[Not Jim Moran]

where are you getting results? Its not on the SBE website

[Ghost of Henry Howell]

Vienna #2 leans to the left. However, a win is a win.

http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/eb/webreports/RESU0209.pdf

[Ghost of Henry Howell]

Ridgelea goes to Herrity by 35 votes. Classic swing precinct but leans slightly R with regular voters. Not a bad showing for Sharon.

[notlarrysabato]

Sharon has already dropped 10 Obama precincts.

[Doug in Mount Vernon]

This is going to be a nailbiter....Herrity eeked out a very narrow win in Stratford. I thought Sharon would eeek it out.

Waitin' for those Springfield precincts to hit, but there are still far more pro-Bulova areas to report than Herrity, but the problem is whether enough people voted in them...

[Steveo]

she won glen forest #2 by 1 vote.
that is practically south arlington.
what a loser!!!

[Doug in Mount Vernon]

Ben, those were all marginal Obama precincts as you well know....

Didn't McCain win Sideburn? The County website shows she won it, not Herrity.

Chris Graham said Sam Rasoul and Bob Goodlatte had a "close" race. I wonder what he'd call the results at this point?

[Doug in Mount Vernon]

OK well maybe a few of them were not so marginal....yes this is going to be close, but don't forget these numbers already include herrity's home precinct Newgate (someone told me that was his home base today).

[Not John S. Mosby]

Hunter Mill is mixed right now but Bulova should carry it. Decent showing in Wolf Trap, crappy in Floris, strong in the Peoples Republic of Reston, pretty good in Vienna town precincts.

I would say Bulova 52-48 as a final?

[Doug in Mount Vernon]

Sharon 51%
Pat 49%
!!!!!!!!!!

[Left of the Hill]

Doug in Mt. Vernon, i'm from Newgate and happen to live right down the street from Pat. So yes, it was his home base (and not just today, but during the other days of the week as well)

[Doug in Mount Vernon]

LOL, thanks LOTH

closer than that. Springfield still out

[why not obama]

I so badly want this to be a BLOW-OUT for Pat Herrity. We need the wreckless spending Dems who have anointed and encouraged the developers to misuse our county, with no forethought to the future destruction of our once sought after county prominence, to be flushed into the sewer with the rest of the crap.

[Patrick Ruffini]

Pro-Herrity precincts seem to have higher turnout across the board in addition to +20 swings to Herrity in some precincts from 2008 (countywide Obama won by 21).

[Doug in Mount Vernon]

Oh Steveo, isn't "Glen Forest #2" the old folks' home? Did you forget about Glen Forest #1?

Yeah, way to achieve that balance...

[Sam]

why not obama-

Wait... you want Pat Herrity in order to curb the developers? Umm... do you even remember what his father did as chairman, and why, exactly, the at-the-time reliably Republican Fairfax COunty booted him?

[Not John S. Mosby]

Of course, if the Republicans clean up on absentees like they did in Alexandria, then Herrity is comfortably ahead at this point.

[Steveo]

actually dougie its surrounding culmore and obama won 67% there
haha
guess those old folks like change

[why not obama]

Herrity will support the tunnel option through Tysons, whereas Connolly/Bolognaia won't even consider/willing to have that option competitively bid -- sounds like developer bed partners to me! I'm from the Hunter Mill District. GOOOOO P-A-T!

Springfield dems for Herrity!!!!! Bring it home baby. I so agree with Why Not Obama.

[Steveo]

actually you are probably thinking of leewood where buloca won...nvm

herrity is also flipping columbia, parklawn, ridglea, and edsall in MASON district!!!

[Anonymous Is A Woman]

Not John S. Mosby, I'm not sure the Republicans have the absentee ballots cornered this time. I think Fairfax Dems learned from the 46th District's special election not to take that for granted.

Also, when I was over at the Fairfax Government Center last Saturday, there were a lot of people voting absentee in person and I saw a lot of Obama bumper stickers in the parking lot, so I suspect both Dems and Republicans got out for that one.

[Anonymous Is A Woman]

Not John S. Mosby, I'm not sure the Republicans have the absentee ballots cornered this time. I think Fairfax Dems learned from the 46th District's special election not to take that for granted.

Also, when I was over at the Fairfax Government Center last Saturday, there were a lot of people voting absentee in person and I saw a lot of Obama bumper stickers in the parking lot, so I suspect both Dems and Republicans got out for that one.

[Sam]

Am I the only one stunned at how high turnout is looking? I was in agreement at 10%, but it looks like we may hit 20....

[why not obama]

Herrity will support the tunnel option through Tysons, whereas Connolly/Bolognaia won't even consider/willing to have that option competitively bid -- sounds like developer bed partners to me! I'm from the Hunter Mill District. GOOOOO P-A-T!

[Not John S. Mosby]

Of course Herrity supports a tunnel. He knew that was the best way to get the whole project derailed due to cost and the fact that the Dept of Transportation would have killed the federal funding for it. Herrity has been against rail from the start, and the best and only way he could stop it was to support a proposal that would have failed.

Republicans in Hunter Mill - that's funny. Welcome to life as a permanent 35-40% minority at best.

[why not obama]

Sam,

I am NOT surprised with voter turn out. The Republicans are and have been FED UP with the Dems recklessly running this county into the ground and I think conservative Democrats have finally come to their sensibilities whether it's the Tysons tunnel, illegal immigrants, increased property taxes, traffic congestion, CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN, etc. -- they have any number of good reasons to vote for Pat.

[Sam]

If that had anything to do with it, this would be Herrity in a blow-out. Nice try, though.

[Not John S. Mosby]

A lot of Springfield is still out, and it's tight....

[why not obama]

Sam, you sound like you're a first time voter.

[Steveo]

anonymous woman-
could it be that those obama people had shown up at the county gov. center because they realized they actually had to pay their taxes??

[Doug in Mount Vernon]

I think Herrity is going to eeek this out....God help Fairfax County!

If he tries to gut affordable housing A LOT of people are going to WAKE UP.....idiots should have been awake now...

[why not obama]

Bravo, bravo... Steveo LOL!

[Sam]

why not obama - sounds like you're trying to do math for the first time

[why not obama]

Dougie,
If you were worried about saving affordable housing, then why did you vote for Connolly so he could have his developer buddies tear down existing affordable housing to build mini-mansions everywhere? Have you been to Arlington lately? Have you driven down West Ox road lately? Where HAVE you been for the last decade?

[Anonymous Is A Woman]

Steveo, I don't often get insulting but you are an idiot. They were voting, schmuck!

[Dan]

Wow! When someone as even tempered as Anonymous Is A Woman calls you an idiot you must REALLY be an idiot.

[Doug in Mount Vernon]

Get a grip why not....

[The Dude]

Just brilliant, Steveo. Obama and taxes. How hilarious. How highly, highly humorous!

[Doug in Mount Vernon]

I'd like you to take me on a tour of the affordable housing that was "torn down" for "mini-mansions"....you're an idiot.

steveo and why not obama= t and grapes

[Kevin]

1,600 bulova lead with 15 precincts and absentees left.

[mike]

NLS, who did u want to win?

[why not obama]

Dougie,

I am at least an informed idiot, you on the other hand are the most dangerous voter out there... IGNORANT and UNINFORMED. Take yourself on a tour of West Ox Road and see all of the mini-mansions that replaced affordable houses... IT WAS DONE BY CONNOLLY TO BILK MORE TAX DOLLARS OUT OF THE WEALTHY AND KICK-OUT the lower class.... talk about class warfare.

[Steveo]

oh get over yourselves. it was funny.
some people can't take a joke and so they resort to 5th grade name calling. sad.

[Not John S. Mosby]

What affordable housing was along West Ox Road? There are still a couple of old A-Frames up, did someone knock down a huge apartment complex or something without anyone noticing it?

I do find it ironic that the pro-Herrity people are now bashing Connolly on development. When all Pat ran on was his dad's name, and ol' Jack never met a developer he didn't like.

[why not obama]

Well, plan A for me was for Pat to win. Thank goodness I have a plan B... I need to get to work making a bunch more babies so you Bulova/Dem supporters can help pay to support me and my children (and my bad decisions to have children I can't afford). Lord knows I don't want to pay to support you Dems... I'm just going to turn the tables.

[Not John]

What happened to all the Obamamaniacs?
Have they grown tired of or wise to the lies already???

Such a short honeymoon when one's true colors start shining through...

Anything less than a proportional (to the presidential election) vote will prove very informative regarding the voters belief in deomcrats message of change.

liberals may feel free to disagree and call names as is your normal fashion.

[why not obama]

Not John,

Well said! :)

Um, Not John, Sharon, the Democrat, won. It is a special election, local issues and different turn out dynamics. Obama still has 70% plus approval ratings, can actually admit a mistake, and talks in full sentences. Meanwhile, the Republican party is becoming a gaggle of angry white men over 50 and are branding themselves the party of male menopause.

[why not obama]

If Bolognaia were to go into an irreversible coma as a result from the shock of actually winning, then who would be Supervisor?

[DCCyclone]

I'm enjoying the Repub sour grapes tonight. They lose, so they revel in a close loss.

The reality is that the Repubs are very depressed tonight. Fairfax has turned irreversibly against them, and tonight was a rare chance at a county-wide win, as close to a perfect storm as they can reasonably expect: a special election with only one local race, hard on the heels of Democratic exhaustion after a year of hard electoral work, with bad morning weather and a personally uninspiring Democrat running against an energized Republican with higher-than-average name recognition. That was as close to a perfect storm as the Repubs can get short of a scandal a la Mark Foley and Tim Mahoney in FL-16. And still they lose.

Speaking of my experience as an example, I knocked on hundreds of doors for Obama/Warner/Feder in Chain Bridge precinct over many weekends, and there was no way my non-political wife who refused to vote in this special election would have let me take even more weekends to door-knock or anything else for a local race so soon after November. If I'm lucky I can convince her to back off and let me door-knock for the eventual Democratic Gubernatorial nominee later this year. And I'm in the category of obsessive-compulsive political junkies who eat up this stuff like crazy. In addition I had to remind two colleagues in my office to vote today, guys I talk politics with all the time who live in Fairfax County and had forgotten altogether there was an election today.

I can imagine Brian Moran's seat was even more risky for Dems with no time for a campaign, right after the holidays, and no one aware there even WAS a special election.

[Not John]

"Obama still has 70% plus approval ratings"

Very impressive, almost as high as Gerald Ford when he took office.

You dem's look can find any reason not to see reality. In three months he will be below 50%, what will your reasons be for that?

Couldn't be because the "change" mantra has proven false with tax cheats, lobbyists, terrorist apologists and the least ethical, least transparent, and most homeboy government start in decades.

dcc,
Look at the board of elections page they are reporting a Boluva with with

"Precincts Reporting:
231 of 229 (100.8%)"

Chicago politics...lol what a "change"

The Bulova win was expected, the following comparison proves very interesting. Is it a referendum on the new administration??

lost 10 points from Obama election
lost 17 points from Moran election

not something I would be crowing about.

[Not John S. Mosby]

You fuckers lost. Again. End of story. Special elections in the middle of winter are your best shots to win, and you haven't. Simple as that. Will you go for 0-3 by fielding a candidate in the Braddock special election, or just save it for the general election in November?

You guys got all fired up, ran a good campaign, spent money, had volunteers working the polls for the first time in 4 years - and lost.

Have a good night.

10:32...what's a referendum on the new administration? I don't follow. They've been in office two weeks. Check back on "referendums" in two years.

[Sam]

Not John - We'll see in three months. Three months before November, Republicans were laughing about how Obama was going to get slaughtered...

why not obama - Seriously, do you even read? you're pulling out the old debunked welfare line? Did you never do a minute of study showing that when states got rid of increased payments for more children, those states saw no decrease in births, but did see an increase in childhood malnutrition? Huh, who'd have guess people actually DON'T have babies that costs thousands of dollars a year to raise just to collect an extra 50 bucks a month....

[Not John S. Mosby]

10:44,

Remember, these guys are the ones that think that 50.1 is mandate from the votes. Math isn't their strong suit. They sincerely hope the economy goes toes up and Obama fails, just so a Republican would stand a better chance of winning in 4 years.

Great Americans those guys, trash shit so you can take charge. That's awesome. Lets hope Republicans keep losing elections by small margins, they're stupid enough to think they're doing well.

"If we just keep working hard, we'll only lose the next election by 3 points!!!"

[Glen Tomkins]

It doesn't quite add up

On the county webpage summarizing the county-wide vote, it looks like they haven't tallied about 2,600 of the absentee ballots. Am I misreading something?

Um, Not John, Daschel and the person from OMB withdrew. Alberto Gonzolez, who wrecked the Justice Department and didn't follow the law was kept on as AG for months because he was a Bush friend. The Republican party wrecked America, and is becoming the party of socially maladjusted white males over 50. Good job wasting a trillion dollars in Iraq. Basically, the Republican party couldn't pour piss out of a boot with instructions written on the bottom, so don't expect to get back in power anytime soon.

As someone who lives off West Ox Road I just wanna say that there was basically nothing here until all these houses came! What are you talking about? The empty trees and the random shacks? You're probably just pissed that all those "mini-mansions" turned this part of the county a lot more Democratic.

[Crimson Fist]

Not John, speak for yourself. Republicans in Dranesville District cleaned up, winning the district with 51% of the vote and taking Margi Vanderhye's own home precinct, Terry McAuliffe's home precinct and took 12 out of 16 34th HOD precincts and 3 out of 4 86th HOD precincts. This after Terry sets up shop and makes his campaign office a Bulova call center in McLean and makes 10,000 calls in one day (supposedly).

Also, for all of Del. Vanderhye's hilarious claims of the 34th being a blue district, the fact that her local Democratic candidates won a whopping 4 precincts in the last two elections (0 precincts for Feder, 4 for Bulova) says something about what people want locally and more importantly, their opinion of Margi's choices to represent us.

We look forward to taking her, Terry (if he wins) and that carpetbagger guy in the 86th on in the next few months. We will not be intimidated, we will not back down and we will not rest until McLean and Great Falls get a real representative in Richmond.

[Not Hussein (formerly Not Ben)]

Crimson Fist, I love the bravado. Unfortunately, that, a dollar, and your moral victories in the special elections this year aren't enough to get you a coffee at Starbucks.

[Just curious]

Why is the margin listed as 50.6 - 49.4%? There were something like 107,000 votes case, which means that Bulova must have won with a plurality, not a majority.

Here's the more important question for ben: Did your parents vote in this special election? If so, for whom?

To all Democratsand Republicans, congratulations on a hard-fought race. But remember (especially you Democrats), overconfidence can be a killer.

[Just curious]

Ah, I found my answer. According to the numbers published in the Washington post, the margin was 48.2% for Bulova and 47.1% for Herrity. Analyze these numbers however you want.

[Not John S. Mosby]

The Post numbers are wrong. Between them the two independent candidates got a bit under 1% of the vote. Bulova came in a bit over 50.1% or so, Herrity at 48.7% or so. About a 1.3% spread, give or take.

[Just curious]

NSJM,

I see the problem. I took the reported vote for each candidate and divided it by the reported total vote. However, I notice that the reported total vote (approx 107,713) is higher than the total of the reported votes for ewach candidate (which is close to 103,000). Something is a little screwy in the document posted by Fairfax County.

Using the sum of each candidate's vote, I get Bulova 50.0%, Herrity 48.8%. So yeah, closer to your numbers.

[Not John S. Mosby]

There's nothing screwy, just a semi-useless set of numbers for absentees. It's the total number of absentee ballots requested. A good percentage of people requested ballots mailed to them, then never sent them back or they didn't arrive in time, had issues, etc. Basically, no-votes.

whole lot of blue districts seem to have gone red.

lets just call that a meaningless coincidence.

[Not John S. Mosby]

Completely meaningless. They'll be blue for the next general election.

Taking solace - almost with glee - in only losing local special elections by a few points is about one step up from celebrating getting life in prison without parole instead of the death penalty. The Republican party is still in Siberia as far as Fairfax is concerned, but breathing. No great shakes though, I'll start to believe you guys when you put forth election efforts every time.

[kestrel9000]

Up top, someone without the balls to sign their comment asks:
-----------
why hasn't Creigh Deeds resigned? Why isn't he man enough to dedicate his full time to running for governor if he's serious?
-----------

McAuliffe: no job, so running.
Moran: Quit the Assembly and therefore, the voters that elected him, to run for Governor.
Deeds: Staying in the job he was elected to do and taking his chances.
Did Obama resign from the Senate to run for President?
When you run for elected office, you are making a commitment, and I find it distateful when people abandon commitments for political ambition.
Applying for a new job isn't doing the job people elected you to do.
It's abandoning it.
He was elected by the people of his district who felt he was the best man for the job.
Now Moran's going to walk out on the job he was elected to do just because he thinks he can get a better one.
Not unlike Bob McDonnell.
Me, I'll put the people who elected me before my own ambition, and I'll stick with a guy who sees it that way.

[Not John S. Mosby]

Attorney General is a full-time job, so it makes sense to resign from it to run, especially because there are potential major conflicts of interest in keeping the post while running for Governor. That's the main reason.

As far as Senate and Delegates go, they are part-time jobs, and in theory, after the spring, they're pretty much done for the year on a day-to-day basis. So, no problem with running for higher office while holding a Delegates/Senate spot.

Lt. Gov, of course, is free to run for anything since that job isn't even part-time.