Democrats win full control of Virginia statehouse

RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia Democrats continued their winning streak under President Donald Trump on Tuesday and took full control of the statehouse for the first time in more than two decades.

Democrats won majorities in both the state House and Senate in the marquee warmup for next year’s presidential election, the third election in a row in which they have made significant gains since Trump was elected.

Of the four states with legislative elections this year, Virginia is the only one where control of the statehouse was up for grabs. Republicans had slim majorities in the state House and Senate.

National groups, particularly those aligned with Democrats, pumped huge amounts of money into the contests as a way to test-drive expensive messaging and get-out-the-vote campaigns ahead of the 2020 cycle. Gun control and clean energy groups affiliated with former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg spent several million dollars helping Democrats.

Trump tried to rally Republicans via Twitter but stayed out of Virginia, a state he lost in 2016.

KENTUCKY GOVERNOR RACE TOO CLOSE TO CALL

The race for governor in Kentucky between incumbent GOP Gov. Matt Bevin and Democratic challenger Andy Beshear was too close to call Tuesday night.

With 100% of precincts reporting, Beshear had a lead of 4,658 votes out of more than 1.4 million counted, or a margin of 0.3 percentage points.

Beshear declared victory Tuesday night, but Bevin had not yet conceded.

There is no mandatory recount law in Kentucky. Bevin may request counties recanvass their results, which is not a recount.