The 25th district runs from Rockingham County precincts near the border of Harrisonburg through Augusta County and into Albemarle County precincts that run to the border of Charlottesville. That gives this district most of the rural population between UVA and JMU. Steve Landes has held this seat since 1995 when Pete Giesen retired. With neighboring GOP districts holding competitive Valley cities like Lexington, Staunton and Harrisonburg, this district was the logical one to be redrawn to include Democratic areas in Albemarle during this last redistricting since the precincts in Rockingham and Augusta would be able to overwhelm any votes in Albemarle.
House District #25 (map here)
36.3% of the vote in Augusta County
33.0% of the vote in Albemarle County
30.7% of the vote in Rockingham County
2012 Major Party Election Results
Mitt Romney 24,498 (61.7%)
Barack Obama 15,201 (38.3%)
George Allen 24,393 (60.6%)
Tim Kaine 15,836 (39.4%)
Bob Goodlatte/Robert Hurt 25,542 (65.0%)
Andy Schmookler/John Douglass 13,743 (35.0%)
(Broken down below)
Bob Goodlatte 19,302 (73.1%)
Andy Schmookler 7,119 (26.9%)
John Douglass 6,624 (51.5%)
Robert Hurt 6,240 (48.5%)
KENTUCKY- The state the Presidential results most closely match with. Kentucky had a margin of 23.1% for Romney, while the 25th Delegate District of Virginia had a margin of 23.4% for Romney.
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The Valley precincts in the 25th district are some of the most solidly Republican in Virginia. In the Rockingham County precincts included here, Mitt Romney won a 8,448-3,739 (69.3%) win over Barack Obama. In the Augusta County precincts, Romney won a 10,145-4,250 (70.5%) win over Obama. In both counties- those strongly GOP precincts are actually the most Democratic of the legislative districts included in the county. In Augusta- the 25th district precincts gave Obama 3.1% more of the vote than the 24th district precincts, and 0.8% more than the 20th district precincts. In Rockingham, the 25th district precincts were 5.6% better for Obama than the 15th district precincts, 0.9% over the 26th district and 3.4% better for Obama than the 58th district precincts. That's how strongly Republican both of those counties are. In the Albemarle precincts included in this district, Barack Obama won a 7,212-5,905 (55.0%) win over Mitt Romney.
In the Senate race, Tim Kaine and George Allen had very little crossover in the Valley counties in this district. In the Rockingham County precincts, Allen won by a 8,476-3,788 (69.1%) vote, a 0.2% improvement for Kaine over Obama. In the Augusta County precincts, Allen won by a 10,316-4,467 (69.8%) margin, a 0.7% improvement for Kaine over Obama. The crossover for Kaine was much larger in Albermarle- where he won a 7,581-5,601 (57.5%) win over Allen, 2.5% better than Obama's numbers there.
Bob Goodlatte represents both Valley counties here and he lead the GOP ticket in both of them. In Rockingham, Goodlatte won a 8,749-3,392 (72.1%) victory over Andy Schmookler, or 2.8% above Romney's percentage in the same precincts. In Augusta, Goodlatte took a 10,553-3,727 (73.9%) win, or 3.4% above Romney's numbers there. The Albemarle precincts are in the 5th district, and John Douglass carried them by a 6,624-6,240 (51.5%) vote over Robert Hurt. Still, that made Hurt the top GOP vote getter in those precincts, running 3.5% above Romney's numbers there- and 6.0% above Allen's.
This district has the same rating as the 22nd district near Lynchburg- voting most like the Commonwealth of Kentucky. But while that district has possibilities to be competitive because of its layout and demographics, this district does not have that same possibility. The GOP vote here is too expansive across a large land mass in two counties for a Democratic candidate to be able to make it competitive. Additionally, while the Albemarle precincts included here are Democratic they can not begin to make up the margin from Rockingham and Augusta. Steve Landes is already one of the longest serving GOP members in the House of Delegates- and he will continue to be for as long as he wishes. Interestingly- Landes is not sitting on his big advantages here and is taking the lead in trying to remove Helen Dragas from the Board at UVA after her reappointment by Bob McDonnell. That's a popular position in his Albemarle precincts- so don't be surprised to see Landes even carry those if he is contested this year.
Previous Districts Covered
House District #1- Terry Kilgore (Utah)
House District #2- Mark Dudenhefer (Delaware)
House District #3- Will Morefield (Utah)
House District #4- Joe Johnson (Wyoming)
House District #5- Israel O'Quinn (Wyoming)
House District #6- Anne Crockett-Stark (Oklahoma)
House District #7- Nick Rush (Kansas)
House District #8- Greg Habeeb (Arkansas)
House District #9- Charles Poindexter (West Virginia)
House District #10- Randy Minchew (North Carolina)
House District #11- Onzlee Ware (Rhode Island)
House District #12- Joseph Yost (Virginia)
House District #13- Bob Marshall (New Mexico)
House District #14- Danny Marshall (North Carolina)
House District #16- Don Merricks (Mississippi)
House District #17- Chris Head (Tennessee)
House District #19- Lacey Putney (West Virginia)
House District #20- Dickie Bell (Texas)
House District #22- Kathy Byron (Kentucky)
House District #23- Scott Garrett (Idaho)
House District #24- Ben Cline (Arkansas)
House District #26- Tony Wilt (Mississippi)
House District #28- Bill Howell (Florida)
House District #30- Ed Scott (Montana)
House District #32- Tag Greason (New Hampshire)
House District #33- Joe May (Alaska)
House District #50- Jackson Miller (Michigan)
House District #51- Rich Anderson (Ohio)
House District #52- Luke Torian (Hawaii)
House District #60- James Edmunds (North Carolina)
House District #87- David Ramadan (Washington)
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