
The final vote count: 11,608 to 11,607.

Last month, Democrats secured a major victory in Virginia, electing Ralph Northam governor in a blowout and picking up over a dozen seats in the House of Delegates.

But the House races are not done being counted. And on Tuesday, an unexpected reversal during a recount gave Democrats yet another pickup.

Republican Del. David Yancey had appeared to win re-election to House District 94 by a razor-thin margin of 10 votes. But with all absentee ballots now tallied, his lead is gone and Democratic challenger Shelly Simonds is the winner.


Final vote: 11,608 to 11,607.

The astonishing one-vote victory ends the GOP majority and splits the 100-member chamber exactly down the middle: 50 Republicans, 50 Democrats.

The two parties will now have to work out a power-sharing arrangement whereby one of them gets the speakership and the committee chairs are divvied up.

While Simonds’ win still has to be certified, Virginia Republicans have already put out a statement conceding the race:

Statement from @vahousegop sounds like a concession. Nothing about a speaker-designee. Get ready for a 50-50 House pic.twitter.com/edPVF8SWCD — Graham Moomaw (@gmoomaw) December 19, 2017

And it might not be over. There is still the possibility a redo election could be ordered for the 28th District in Fredricksburg, where the Republican won but hundreds of voters were given ballots for the wrong district. Flipping this seat would result in Democrats controlling the House of Delegates outright.

Between this and the shocking victory in Alabama, Democrats are proving beyond a doubt they are competitive nationwide. It is time to rise up and elect a new Democratic majority to serve the people.