On Wednesday afternoon, Republican State Sen. Mark Obenshain conceded to Democratic State Sen. Mark Herring as the recount vote for Virginia’s Attorney General was coming to an end. Therefore, Virginia Democrats now hold the office of Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General. It is the first time that the Democrats swept the top three spots in an election since 1989. Obenshain had this to say in a press conference after announcing that he had conceded:
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“The recount is almost over and in this contest for Attorney General that, frankly, I was starting to think was never going to end. It’s become apparent that our campaign is going to come up a few votes short.”
The recount was necessary after the November 5th election due to how extremely close the margin of victory was for Herring. The initial vote count had Herring ahead by only 165 votes. However, as the recount was going on, vote totals showed Herring’s lead actually widening. The most recent recount totals showed Herring ahead by nearly 900 votes. With Obenshain realizing that there was no further ground left to make up, he decided to throw in the towel rather than wait for the final totals to be released.
There is a somewhat dark cloud to this. Currently, the Virginia Senate is evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. With Herring now officially declared the winner of the election, he will step down from his position as State Senator. Therefore, a special election will be held, meaning it is possible that Republicans can take control back in the Senate. The race for that seat is considered a toss-up.
Justin Baragona is the Managing Editor at Politicus Sports as well as Senior Editor at PoliticusUSA. He was a political writer for 411Mania.com before joining PoliticusUSA. Politically, Justin considers himself a liberal but also a realist and pragmatist. Currently, Justin lives in St. Louis, MO and is married. Besides writing, he also runs his own business after spending a number of years in the corporate world. You can follow Justin on Twitter either with his personal handle (@justinbaragona) or the Sports site’s (@PoliticusSports).
