Control of Virginia's Legislature Comes Down to Drawing Lots
State officials announced Thursday that they will randomly select a winner to break a tie between Democrat Shelly Simonds and Republican David Yancey.
Updated on December 21, 2017, at 9:52 a.m.
After winning the Virginia governor’s race and flipping more than a dozen seats in the House of Delegates from red to blue last month, Democrats are hoping for one more reason to celebrate—but it’ll come down to a random draw.
On Tuesday, a recount appeared to show Democrat Shelly Simonds defeating Republican incumbent David Yancey by a single vote—11,608 to 11,607. That would have cost Republicans their majority in the House of Delegates, creating a tie for control of the lower chamber of the state legislature.
Then Yancey’s campaign decided to contest the recount on the basis to determine who wins in the event of a tie.
