The 2008 United States presidential election in Virginia took place on November 4, 2008, which was part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose 13 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
Virginia was won by Democratic nominee Barack Obama by a 6.3% margin of victory. Prior to the election, 16 of 17 news organizations considered this a state Obama would win, or otherwise a likely blue state, despite the fact that Virginia had not voted for a Democratic presidential nominee since Lyndon B. Johnson's 44-state landslide in 1964. The financial meltdown, changing demographics, and population increases in voter-rich Northern Virginia helped make the state more competitive for Obama. His victory marked a powerful shift in the political climate in Virginia, as the state would go on to vote for the Democratic presidential nominee in every election thereafter.
This also marked the first presidential election since 1924 in which Virginia voted for the Democratic presidential candidate whilst neighboring West Virginia voted for the Republican candidate; in every election since, both states have voted for those respective parties. Despite Obama's victory, Virginia's margin was 0.97% more Republican than the national average, though it would be the last time Virginia voted more Republican than the nation. , this is the last election in which King and Queen County voted for the Democratic candidate.
Primaries
2008 Virginia Democratic presidential primary
2008 Virginia Republican presidential primary
Campaign
Virginia was one of the first Southern states to break away from its traditional Democratic roots. It voted for Dwight Eisenhower by a convincing margin in 1952, and voted for every Republican nominee since then save for Johnson's massive landslide in 1964.
However, the Democrats had made big gains in recent years with winning two gubernatorial races in a row, regaining control of the Virginia Senate, and electing Democrat Jim Webb to the U.S. Senate over incumbent Republican George Allen in 2006. Democrats made such gains in part due to the ever-expanding Northern Virginia, particularly the suburbs surrounding Washington, D.C. Historically, this area was strongly Republican. However, in recent years it has been dominated by white liberals who tend to vote Democratic. It was, ultimately, this rapid demographic change that provided a huge new influx of Democratic voters to Virginia.
Both presidential campaigns and the mainstream media treated Virginia as a swing state for most of the campaign. Obama campaigned extensively in Virginia and counted on the booming northern parts of the state for a Democratic victory. Victory in the presidential election for McCain would have been extremely difficult without Virginia; he would have had to win every swing state as well as at least one Democratic-leaning state.
Predictions
There were 16 news organizations who made state-by-state predictions of the election. Here are their last predictions before election day:
Polling
After McCain clinched the Republican Party nomination in early March, he took a wide lead in polls against Obama, averaging almost 50%. But through the summer, polling was nearly dead even, with McCain only slightly leading Obama. After the Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, Obama took a wide lead in the polls. In October, Obama won every single poll taken but one, and reached over 50% in most of them. The final three polls averaged Obama leading 51% to 46%.
Fundraising
Obama raised $17,035,784. McCain raised $16,130,194.
Spending and visits
Obama spent over $26 million to McCain spending just $14 million. The Obama-Biden ticket visited the state 19 times compared to just 10 times for McCain-Palin.
Analysis
On Election Day, early returns showed McCain ahead. This was due in large part to the fact that many of the rural areas began to report first. However, Obama swamped McCain by scoring a near-sweep in Northern Virginia, which reported its returns last.