When Ken Plum was first elected, the House of Delegates was still elected as at-large members by county, meaning that Fairfax County Delegates had to all run against each other for a handful of countywide House seats. Plum lost his seat soon after, but when single member districts were created in 1981 he was able to win the seat drawn in the Reston area and has been in the House ever since. Plum is now #2 in seniority in the House, and with Lacey Putney expected to retire soon, Plum will claim the #1 slot. During his time in the House, Plum has served as Chairman of the Democratic Party of Virginia for three years in the late 1990's, and as Democratic Caucus Chair for three years from 2008 until after the 2011 elections.
House District #36 (map here)
100% of the vote in Fairfax County
2012 Major Party Election Results
Barack Obama 26,137 (64.9%)
Mitt Romney 14,140 (35.1%)
Tim Kaine 26,598 (66.0%)
George Allen 13,719 (34.0%)
Gerry Connolly/Kristin Cabral 24,922 (64.8%)
Chris Perkins/Frank Wolf 13,542 (35.2%)
(Broken down below)
Gerry Connolly 24,719 (65.2%)
Chris Perkins 13,171 (34.8%)
Frank Wolf 371 (64.6%)
Kristin Cabral 203 (35.4%)
RHODE ISLAND- The state the Presidential results most closely match with. Rhode Island had a margin of 28.0% for Obama, while the 36th Delegate District of Virginia had a margin of 29.8% for Obama.
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The 36th district takes in the Fairfax County area of Reston and a few neighborhoods just outside of it. Long before neighboring areas like Herndon and Vienna became Democratic leaning, Reston was the liberal stronghold of Northern Virginia outside the beltway. What made Reston so unique politically was the types of people it attracted when it was founded in 1964 as the first post-war planned community in the country. The open space, walkability and other factors drew liberals into Reston and it has remained the same politically ever since.
In the core of Reston, Barack Obama defeated Mitt Romney by a 9,455-3,900 (70.8%) vote. Also strongly Democratic are the 36th district precincts where Reston begins to turn into Herndon- Obama won a 4,798-2,182 (68.7%) win there over Romney. On the northern edge in Reston there is less density and the politics are much more competitive. In those precincts the margin for Obama was 4,699-3,498 (57.3%). To the south of Reston where neighborhoods begin to shift from Reston to Vienna addresses, the density is once again diminished and so is the Democratic margin- a win of 2,826-2,251 (55.7%) for Obama over Romney. Finally this district includes one precinct in Sully district which is also its only overlap with the 10th Congressional district. In that neighborhood Mitt Romney prevailed by a 279-196 (58.8%) vote over Barack Obama.
In the U.S. Senate race, Tim Kaine ran ahead of Barack Obama in each section of the district. In the core of Reston the crossover was tiny as Kaine won a 9,546-3,850 (71.3%) vote over Allen, a 0.5% crossover for Kaine over Obama's vote. To the west of Reston's core- in the area where Reston and Herndon mesh- the margin for Kaine was 4,809-2,170 (68.9%) over Allen, a 0.2% crossover for Kaine over Obama's total. Kaine's crossover grows in the less dense areas of the district which are older, richer and with less minority population. In the northern precincts of Reston the margin for Kaine over Allen was 4,823-3,381 (58.8%), a crossover of 1.5% for Kaine over Obama. To the south of Reston's core where Reston begins to turn into Vienna, the vote for Kaine over Allen was 2,986-2,108 (58.6%), a crossover of 2.9% for Kaine over Obama. Finally, in that one Sully precinct George Allen prevailed by a 266-212 (55.6%) vote over Tim Kaine, a crossover of 3.2% for Kaine over Obama's total there.
Much of Reston was in the 8th Congressional district for the last 10 years after Tom Davis wanted to dislodge it from the 11th Congressional district during the 2000 redistricting. Once Gerry Connolly was in office during this last redistricting he was more than happy most of this highly Democratic area was put back into the 11th district. Connolly prevailed over Chris Perkins in the core of Reston by a 8,908-3,734 (70.5%) vote. There was a dropoff in participation from the upballot races for both candidates, giving Perkins 0.3% more of the vote here than Romney received. Connolly also won a large victory in the area where Reston becomes Herndon, winning by a 4,534-2,109 (68.2%) vote. Again, the 0.5% boost for Perkins over Romney is from voter dropoff downballot, not from crossover voting. In the higher income precincts in northern Reston, Gerry Connolly won by a 4,519-3,327 (57.6%) vote over Chris Perkins, 0.3% better for Connolly than Obama got there. The best area for Connolly in this district was in the area south of the Reston core where Reston turns into Vienna. There, Gerry Connolly beat Chris Perkins by a 2,787-2,144 (56.5%) vote, a 0.8% improvement over Obama's percentage there. The one Sully precinct is also the only precinct in the 10th district. There, Frank Wolf defeated Kristin Cabral with a vote of 303-161 (65.4%), a crossover for Wolf of 6.8% above Romney's vote.
Ken Plum has held this seat without a serious challenge for the last 30 years and that doesn't appear to be changing anytime soon. Republicans have no chance to be competitive here with all of Reston in one house district, while Democrats are pretty satisfied being represented by one of the most liberal members of the House of Delegates. If Plum decides to retire this decade under these district lines this seat should be an easy hold for any Democratic candidate as currently drawn. Don't expect to see Plum retire soon though- once a legislator reaches the #1 spot in seniority they tend to try to stay around a few more years from that top perch.
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 #15- Todd Gilbert (Idaho)
House District #16- Don Merricks (Mississippi)
House District #17- Chris Head (Tennessee)
House District #18- Michael Webert (South Dakota)
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 #25- Steve Landes (Kentucky)
House District #26- Tony Wilt (Mississippi)
House District #28- Bill Howell (Florida)
House District #29- Bev Sherwood (Tennessee)
House District #30- Ed Scott (Montana)
House District #31- Scott Lingamfelter (Minnesota)
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 #57- David Toscano (Hawaii)
House District #58- Rob Bell (Texas)
House District #59- Matt Fariss (South Dakota)
House District #60- James Edmunds (North Carolina)
House District #86- Tom Rust (Massachusetts)
House District #87- David Ramadan (Washington)
The account of Delegate Plum's early electoral history here is inaccurate.
The last countywide election of Delegates took place in 1969, many years before Ken Plum's first race.
In the five elections from 1971 to 1979, Fairfax County's Delegates were elected in two multi-member districts, one in the northern half of the county and one in the southern half. After an unsuccessful race in 1975, Plum was elected in 1977 and defeated for re-election in 1979.
In 1981, Fairfax County Delegates were elected from four three-member districts. Plum won one of the three seats in the northwestern quadrant of the County.
Since the special 1982 Delegate election, when single-member seats were first adopted, Plum has represented the Reston area seat.
Posted by: Cicero | January 26, 2013 at 06:24 PM
So Ben, when do we get to LeMunyon and subsequent delegates?
Posted by: Dandem75 | January 27, 2013 at 08:51 PM