Special elections are being held on January 5 for District 2 and District 90 of the Virginia House of Delegates.
- In District 2, Candi King (D) and Heather Mitchell (R) are running to replace Jennifer Foy (D), who resigned in December 2020 to focus on her 2021 campaign for governor. Foy had represented the district since 2018. She won re-election in 2019, earning 61% of the vote to defeat Mitchell in the general election.
- In District 90, Angelia Williams Graves (D) and Sylvia Bryant (R) are competing to replace Joseph Lindsey (D), who resigned in November after being appointed as a judge for Virginia’s 4th Judicial District. Lindsey was elected to the House of Delegates in a 2014 special election, and he ran unopposed in each of his re-election campaigns.
Heading into the special election, Democrats have a 53-45 majority in the House of Delegates with two vacancies. Virginia has a Democratic state government trifecta. A trifecta exists when one political party simultaneously holds the governor’s office and majorities in both state legislative chambers. All 100 seats in the Virginia House of Delegates are up for election in 2021.
There have been 11 state legislative special elections scheduled for 2021 in eight states. Between 2011 and 2020, an average of 75 special elections took place each year.
Additional reading:
- State legislative special elections, 2021
- Virginia House of Delegates
- Virginia House of Delegates District 2
- Virginia House of Delegates District 90
