Republican wins lottery for seat in Virginia House
RICHMOND, Va. — A Virginia elections official reached into an artsy stoneware bowl, pulled out a name and declared Republican David Yancey the winner of a House of Delegates race that could determine which political party controls the chamber.
Virginia staged a dramatic, rare election lottery, livestreamed across the country, to settle a tie between Yancey, an incumbent from Newport News, and Democrat Shelly Simonds.
The spectacle drew national attention as an odd way to decide a highly consequential contest. But it might not be the last word in a saga that’s taken more turns than the clay that went into that wheelthrown bowl, borrowed for the occasion from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts .
Simonds and a collection of state officials and politicos were on hand for the drawing in the West Reading Room of the Patrick Henry Building; Yancey was not.
As the loser of the drawing, Simonds is entitled by law to request a second recount, likely leaving the race in limbo as the General Assembly reconvenes Jan. 10. Yancey is not expected to be seated if a recount is pending.
But even without him, the GOP would still enjoy a 50-49 majority in the House on the first day, when delegates pick a speaker for the next two years.
Republicans boasted a seemingly insurmountable 66-34 majority heading into November elections. But as they swept statewide offices for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general, Democrats also picked up at least 15 House seats in a blue wave widely viewed as a rebuke to President Trump.
If Simonds seeks and wins a second recount, or prevails with other potential challenges, the 100-member House would be split right down the middle, ending the GOP’s 18-year majority in Richmond’s lower chamber.