1984 United States presidential election in Virginia

Main article: 1984 United States presidential election

The 1984 United States presidential election in Virginia took place on November 6, 1984. All 50 states and the District of Columbia, were part of the 1984 United States presidential election. Virginia voters chose 12 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president of the United States.

1984 United States presidential election in Virginia

← 1980 November 6, 1984 1988 →

Nominee Ronald Reagan Walter Mondale Party Republican Democratic Home state California Minnesota Running mate George H. W. Bush Geraldine Ferraro Electoral vote 12 0 Popular vote 1,337,078 796,250 Percentage 62.3% 37.1%

County and Independent City Results Reagan   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90% Mondale   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%

President before election Ronald Reagan Republican Elected President Ronald Reagan Republican

Virginia was won by incumbent United States President Ronald Reagan of California, who was running against former Vice President Walter Mondale of Minnesota. Reagan ran for a second time with incumbent Vice President and former C.I.A. Director George H. W. Bush of Texas, and Mondale ran with Representative Geraldine Ferraro of New York, the first major female candidate for the vice presidency.

The presidential election of 1984 was a very partisan election for Virginia, with just under 99% of the electorate voting only either Democratic or Republican, and only three candidates appearing on the ballot.^[1] Only two of Virginia's counties or independent cities failed to give either Mondale or Reagan an outright majority: the city of Franklin gave Reagan a plurality, and Greensville County gave Mondale a plurality. Mondale's best performance was in Charles City County, which gave him 68.7% of its vote; Reagan's was in the city of Poquoson, which gave him 84.7%.

Virginia weighed in for this election as 5% more Republican than the national average. As of the 2020 presidential election^[update], this is the last election in which the independent cities of Franklin, Lexington, Roanoke, and Falls Church voted for the Republican candidate. Reagan won Virginia by a landslide 25% margin. The Old Dominion, which had been the only former Confederate state to vote for Gerald Ford in 1976, had, unlike many other Southern states, not even been particularly close in 1980: Virginia rejected the incumbent Southerner, Jimmy Carter, in favor of Reagan by nearly 13%. 1984 confirmed Virginia's position as a center of the emerging Republican South; Reagan's 62.3% vote share in the state made it his 17th best nationally, and his fourth-best in the Old Confederacy, after Florida, Texas, and South Carolina. (Of those three, Florida and Texas had similarly decisively rejected Carter in 1980.)

Reagan performed well throughout all of Virginia's regions, relegating Mondale mostly to some largely African-American counties in the east, some highly unionized coal counties in southwest Virginia, and the independent cities of Alexandria, Norfolk, Richmond, and Portsmouth.^[2] Particularly noteworthy, however, was Reagan's strong performance in Virginia's large, suburban counties: he got over 60% of the vote in Fairfax County, which cast the most votes of any of the state's jurisdictions, and over 70% in the independent city of Virginia Beach, Henrico County, and Chesterfield County. He also got over 2/3 of the vote in the emerging exurb of Prince William County. In a noteworthy shift against the state and national trend, however, Mondale flipped Arlington County, making Reagan the first Republican since William Howard Taft in 1908 to win the White House without carrying the county.^[3]

Democratic platform

Walter Mondale accepted the Democratic nomination for presidency after pulling narrowly ahead of Senator Gary Hart of Colorado and Rev. Jesse Jackson of Illinois - his main contenders during what would be a very contentious^[4] Democratic primary. During the campaign, Mondale was vocal about reduction of government spending, and, in particular, was vocal against heightened military spending on the nuclear arms race against the Soviet Union,^[5] which was reaching its peak on both sides in the early 1980s.

Taking a (what was becoming the traditional liberal) stance on the social issues of the day, Mondale advocated for gun control, the right to choose regarding abortion, and strongly opposed the repeal of laws regarding institutionalized prayer in public schools. He also criticized Reagan for his economic marginalization of the poor, stating that Reagan's reelection campaign was "a happy talk campaign," not focused on the real issues at hand.^[6]

A very significant political move during this election: the Democratic Party nominated Representative Geraldine Ferraro to run with Mondale as Vice President. Ferraro was the first female candidate to receive such a nomination from the party in United States history. She said in an interview at the 1984 Democratic National Convention that this action "opened a door which will never be closed again,"^[7] speaking to the role of women in politics.

Republican platform

 

Away from the campaign trail, Reagan (center, far left frame) attends the interment ceremony for the Vietnam Era serviceman, at the Tomb of the Unknowns, Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia. May 28, 1984.

By 1984, Reagan was very popular with voters across the nation as the President who saw them out of the economic stagflation of the early and middle 1970s, and into a period of (relative) economic stability.^[8]

The economic success seen under Reagan was politically accomplished (principally) in two ways. The first was initiation of deep tax cuts for the wealthy,^[9] and the second was a wide-spectrum of tax cuts for crude oil production and refinement, namely, with the 1980 Windfall profits tax cuts.^[10] These policies were augmented with a call for heightened military spending,^[11] the cutting of social welfare programs for the poor,^[12] and the increasing of taxes on those making less than $50,000 per year.^[9] Collectively called "Reaganomics", these economic policies were established through several pieces of legislation passed between 1980 and 1987.

These new tax policies also arguably curbed several existing tax loopholes, preferences, and exceptions, but Reaganomics is typically remembered for its trickle down effect of taxing poor Americans more than rich ones. Reaganomics has (along with legislation passed under presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton) been criticized by many analysts as "setting the stage" for economic troubles in the United States after 2007, such as the Great Recession.^[13]

Virtually unopposed during the Republican primaries, Reagan ran on a campaign of furthering his economic policies. Reagan vowed to continue his "war on drugs," passing sweeping legislation after the 1984 election in support of mandatory minimum sentences for drug possession.^[14] Furthermore, taking a (what was becoming the traditional conservative) stance on the social issues of the day, Reagan strongly opposed legislation regarding comprehension of gay marriage, abortion, and (to a lesser extent) environmentalism,^[15] regarding the final as simply being bad for business.

Results

1984 United States presidential election in Virginia^[16]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	Ronald Reagan (inc.)	1,337,078	62.29%	12
	Democratic	Walter Mondale	796,250	37.09%	0
	Independent Democrat	Lyndon LaRouche	13,307	0.62%	0
Totals			2,146,635	100.0%	12

Results by county or independent city

County or Independent City	Ronald Wilson Reagan Republican		Walter Frederick Mondale Democratic		Lyndon Hermyle LaRouche Independent Democrat		Margin		Total votes cast
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Accomack County	8,047	64.55%	4,355	34.94%	64	0.51%	3,692	29.62%	12,466
Albemarle County	14,455	64.16%	7,982	35.43%	93	0.41%	6,473	28.73%	22,530
Alleghany County	3,067	60.89%	1,932	38.36%	38	0.75%	1,135	22.53%	5,037
Amelia County	2,336	61.41%	1,432	37.64%	36	0.95%	904	23.76%	3,804
Amherst County	7,004	66.51%	3,409	32.37%	117	1.11%	3,595	34.14%	10,530
Appomattox County	3,386	68.65%	1,498	30.37%	48	0.97%	1,888	38.28%	4,932
Arlington County	34,848	48.24%	37,031	51.26%	363	0.50%	-2,183	-3.02%	72,242
Augusta County	15,308	79.22%	3,899	20.18%	116	0.60%	11,409	59.04%	19,323
Bath County	1,434	65.93%	727	33.43%	14	0.64%	707	32.51%	2,175
Bedford County	10,371	68.15%	4,754	31.24%	92	0.60%	5,617	36.91%	15,217
Bland County	1,812	67.29%	867	32.19%	14	0.52%	945	35.09%	2,693
Botetourt County	5,959	64.15%	3,243	34.91%	87	0.94%	2,716	29.24%	9,289
Brunswick County	2,950	48.58%	3,040	50.06%	83	1.37%	-90	-1.48%	6,073
Buchanan County	5,053	38.71%	7,828	59.97%	172	1.32%	-2,775	-21.26%	13,053
Buckingham County	2,627	57.36%	1,879	41.03%	74	1.62%	748	16.33%	4,580
Campbell County	13,388	74.69%	4,380	24.44%	156	0.87%	9,008	50.26%	17,924
Caroline County	2,949	48.04%	3,111	50.68%	78	1.27%	-162	-2.64%	6,138
Carroll County	7,056	70.26%	2,914	29.02%	72	0.72%	4,142	41.25%	10,042
Charles City County	776	30.03%	1,776	68.73%	32	1.24%	-1,000	-38.70%	2,584
Charlotte County	2,999	61.76%	1,811	37.29%	46	0.95%	1,188	24.46%	4,856
Chesterfield County	54,896	79.78%	13,739	19.97%	176	0.26%	41,157	59.81%	68,811
Clarke County	2,529	67.21%	1,215	32.29%	19	0.50%	1,314	34.92%	3,763
Craig County	1,173	57.70%	845	41.56%	15	0.74%	328	16.13%	2,033
Culpeper County	5,596	70.60%	2,255	28.45%	75	0.95%	3,341	42.15%	7,926
Cumberland County	2,027	60.89%	1,237	37.16%	65	1.95%	790	23.73%	3,329
Dickenson County	3,921	44.34%	4,848	54.82%	75	0.85%	-927	-10.48%	8,844
Dinwiddie County	4,547	56.04%	3,485	42.95%	82	1.01%	1,062	13.09%	8,114
Essex County	2,120	61.63%	1,300	37.79%	20	0.58%	820	23.84%	3,440
Fairfax County	183,181	62.88%	107,295	36.83%	822	0.28%	75,886	26.05%	291,298
Fauquier County	10,319	71.41%	4,056	28.07%	76	0.53%	6,263	43.34%	14,451
Floyd County	3,431	67.69%	1,599	31.54%	39	0.77%	1,832	36.14%	5,069
Fluvanna County	2,247	62.21%	1,332	36.88%	33	0.91%	915	25.33%	3,612
Franklin County	7,684	60.21%	4,903	38.42%	175	1.37%	2,781	21.79%	12,762
Frederick County	9,542	77.79%	2,671	21.77%	54	0.44%	6,871	56.01%	12,267
Giles County	4,340	58.18%	3,047	40.84%	73	0.98%	1,293	17.33%	7,460
Gloucester County	7,109	70.91%	2,830	28.23%	86	0.86%	4,279	42.68%	10,025
Goochland County	3,404	60.60%	2,178	38.78%	35	0.62%	1,226	21.83%	5,617
Grayson County	4,508	65.43%	2,319	33.66%	63	0.91%	2,189	31.77%	6,890
Greene County	2,216	73.87%	760	25.33%	24	0.80%	1,456	48.53%	3,000
Greensville County	2,304	48.28%	2,352	49.29%	116	2.43%	-48	-1.01%	4,772
Halifax County	6,726	60.58%	4,231	38.11%	146	1.31%	2,495	22.47%	11,103
Hanover County	18,800	79.26%	4,831	20.37%	87	0.37%	13,969	58.90%	23,718
Henrico County	63,864	74.74%	21,336	24.97%	248	0.29%	42,528	49.77%	85,448
Henry County	12,693	63.76%	6,976	35.04%	237	1.19%	5,717	28.72%	19,906
Highland County	997	70.91%	398	28.31%	11	0.78%	599	42.60%	1,406
Isle of Wight County	5,664	60.18%	3,650	38.78%	98	1.04%	2,014	21.40%	9,412
James City County	7,104	66.54%	3,486	32.65%	87	0.81%	3,618	33.89%	10,677
King and Queen County	1,449	54.39%	1,201	45.08%	14	0.53%	248	9.31%	2,664
King George County	2,356	61.34%	1,450	37.75%	35	0.91%	906	23.59%	3,841
King William County	2,803	65.43%	1,448	33.80%	33	0.77%	1,355	31.63%	4,284
Lancaster County	3,416	67.72%	1,559	30.91%	69	1.37%	1,857	36.82%	5,044
Lee County	5,365	50.83%	5,085	48.18%	104	0.99%	280	2.65%	10,554
Loudoun County	17,765	67.99%	8,227	31.49%	136	0.52%	9,538	36.50%	26,128
Louisa County	3,789	57.91%	2,703	41.31%	51	0.78%	1,086	16.60%	6,543
Lunenburg County	2,713	59.94%	1,754	38.75%	59	1.30%	959	21.19%	4,526
Madison County	2,723	67.15%	1,302	32.11%	30	0.74%	1,421	35.04%	4,055
Mathews County	2,868	71.61%	1,106	27.62%	31	0.77%	1,762	44.00%	4,005
Mecklenburg County	6,777	65.69%	3,438	33.33%	101	0.98%	3,339	32.37%	10,316
Middlesex County	2,612	67.23%	1,206	31.04%	67	1.72%	1,406	36.19%	3,885
Montgomery County	12,428	62.88%	7,202	36.44%	135	0.68%	5,226	26.44%	19,765
Nelson County	2,777	57.22%	2,021	41.64%	55	1.13%	756	15.58%	4,853
New Kent County	2,679	68.71%	1,204	30.88%	16	0.41%	1,475	37.83%	3,899
Northampton County	2,906	55.81%	2,226	42.75%	75	1.44%	680	13.06%	5,207
Northumberland County	3,166	68.41%	1,407	30.40%	55	1.19%	1,759	38.01%	4,628
Nottoway County	3,418	59.00%	2,296	39.63%	79	1.36%	1,122	19.37%	5,793
Orange County	4,483	65.72%	2,285	33.50%	53	0.78%	2,198	32.22%	6,821
Page County	5,021	66.78%	2,437	32.41%	61	0.81%	2,584	34.37%	7,519
Patrick County	4,703	70.47%	1,908	28.59%	63	0.94%	2,795	41.88%	6,674
Pittsylvania County	15,743	66.08%	7,791	32.70%	290	1.22%	7,952	33.38%	23,824
Powhatan County	3,921	73.61%	1,381	25.92%	25	0.47%	2,540	47.68%	5,327
Prince Edward County	3,454	56.11%	2,589	42.06%	113	1.84%	865	14.05%	6,156
Prince George County	4,999	69.64%	2,136	29.76%	43	0.60%	2,863	39.89%	7,178
Prince William County	34,992	68.88%	15,631	30.77%	180	0.35%	19,361	38.11%	50,803
Pulaski County	8,242	64.90%	4,364	34.36%	93	0.73%	3,878	30.54%	12,699
Rappahannock County	1,696	62.65%	999	36.90%	12	0.44%	697	25.75%	2,707
Richmond County	1,869	68.46%	830	30.40%	31	1.14%	1,039	38.06%	2,730
Roanoke County	23,348	68.56%	10,569	31.04%	137	0.40%	12,779	37.53%	34,054
Rockbridge County	4,067	65.66%	2,098	33.87%	29	0.47%	1,969	31.79%	6,194
Rockingham County	13,480	75.70%	4,220	23.70%	107	0.60%	9,260	52.00%	17,807
Russell County	5,738	45.54%	6,760	53.66%	101	0.80%	-1,022	-8.11%	12,599
Scott County	5,804	59.10%	3,904	39.75%	113	1.15%	1,900	19.35%	9,821
Shenandoah County	9,048	76.03%	2,771	23.29%	81	0.68%	6,277	52.75%	11,900
Smyth County	8,593	67.08%	4,102	32.02%	116	0.91%	4,491	35.06%	12,811
Southampton County	4,669	57.99%	3,300	40.99%	82	1.02%	1,369	17.00%	8,051
Spotsylvania County	8,207	66.74%	4,012	32.63%	78	0.63%	4,195	34.11%	12,297
Stafford County	10,293	69.63%	4,429	29.96%	60	0.41%	5,864	39.67%	14,782
Surry County	1,462	43.38%	1,875	55.64%	33	0.98%	-413	-12.26%	3,370
Sussex County	2,183	46.14%	2,408	50.90%	140	2.96%	-225	-4.76%	4,731
Tazewell County	9,645	53.89%	8,014	44.78%	237	1.32%	1,631	9.11%	17,896
Warren County	5,016	65.73%	2,551	33.43%	64	0.84%	2,465	32.30%	7,631
Washington County	12,132	68.06%	5,573	31.26%	121	0.68%	6,559	36.79%	17,826
Westmoreland County	3,219	56.84%	2,363	41.73%	81	1.43%	856	15.12%	5,663
Wise County	7,909	51.36%	7,303	47.43%	187	1.21%	606	3.94%	15,399
Wythe County	6,773	68.65%	2,996	30.37%	97	0.98%	3,777	38.28%	9,866
York County	10,214	71.24%	4,063	28.34%	60	0.42%	6,151	42.90%	14,337
Alexandria City	21,166	46.77%	23,552	52.05%	535	1.18%	-2,386	-5.27%	45,253
Bedford City	1,553	60.36%	997	38.75%	23	0.89%	556	21.61%	2,573
Bristol City	5,012	67.11%	2,429	32.53%	27	0.36%	2,583	34.59%	7,468
Buena Vista City	1,335	64.40%	724	34.93%	14	0.68%	611	29.47%	2,073
Charlottesville City	6,947	48.56%	7,317	51.15%	42	0.29%	-370	-2.59%	14,306
Chesapeake City	27,542	61.64%	16,740	37.46%	402	0.90%	10,802	24.17%	44,684
Clifton Forge City	965	51.44%	896	47.76%	15	0.80%	69	3.68%	1,876
Colonial Heights City	6,387	83.71%	1,218	15.96%	25	0.33%	5,169	67.75%	7,630
Covington City	1,722	54.46%	1,391	43.99%	49	1.55%	331	10.47%	3,162
Danville City	12,141	66.85%	5,846	32.19%	174	0.96%	6,295	34.66%	18,161
Emporia City	1,252	60.25%	807	38.84%	19	0.91%	445	21.41%	2,078
Fairfax City	6,234	65.36%	3,263	34.21%	41	0.43%	2,971	31.15%	9,538
Falls Church City	2,684	52.62%	2,398	47.01%	19	0.37%	286	5.61%	5,101
Franklin City	1,561	49.87%	1,537	49.11%	32	1.02%	24	0.77%	3,130
Fredericksburg City	3,500	58.60%	2,439	40.83%	34	0.57%	1,061	17.76%	5,973
Galax City	1,548	65.18%	814	34.27%	13	0.55%	734	30.91%	2,375
Hampton City	25,537	57.95%	18,180	41.25%	351	0.80%	7,357	16.69%	44,068
Harrisonburg City	5,221	68.15%	2,384	31.12%	56	0.73%	2,837	37.03%	7,661
Hopewell City	5,661	68.27%	2,564	30.92%	67	0.81%	3,097	37.35%	8,292
Lexington City	1,197	55.34%	946	43.74%	20	0.92%	251	11.60%	2,163
Lynchburg City	18,047	67.41%	8,542	31.91%	183	0.68%	9,505	35.50%	26,772
Manassas City	4,613	71.34%	1,824	28.21%	29	0.45%	2,789	43.13%	6,466
Manassas Park City	975	71.96%	375	27.68%	5	0.37%	600	44.28%	1,355
Martinsville City	4,234	58.37%	2,942	40.56%	78	1.08%	1,292	17.81%	7,254
Newport News City	33,614	60.35%	21,834	39.20%	250	0.45%	11,780	21.15%	55,698
Norfolk City	36,360	48.15%	38,913	51.53%	243	0.32%	-2,553	-3.38%	75,516
Norton City	806	48.32%	842	50.48%	20	1.20%	-36	-2.16%	1,668
Petersburg City	5,753	38.17%	9,248	61.35%	73	0.48%	-3,495	-23.19%	15,074
Poquoson City	3,667	84.73%	647	14.95%	14	0.32%	3,020	69.78%	4,328
Portsmouth City	18,940	46.42%	21,623	53.00%	238	0.58%	-2,683	-6.58%	40,801
Radford City	2,855	61.15%	1,781	38.15%	33	0.71%	1,074	23.00%	4,669
Richmond City	38,754	43.73%	49,408	55.75%	466	0.53%	-10,654	-12.02%	88,628
Roanoke City	19,008	52.09%	17,300	47.41%	184	0.50%	1,708	4.68%	36,492
Salem City	6,419	65.43%	3,347	34.12%	44	0.45%	3,072	31.31%	9,810
South Boston City	1,899	65.64%	974	33.67%	20	0.69%	925	31.97%	2,893
Staunton City	6,137	74.88%	2,012	24.55%	47	0.57%	4,125	50.33%	8,196
Suffolk City	10,128	52.97%	8,842	46.25%	149	0.78%	1,286	6.73%	19,119
Virginia Beach City	72,571	74.36%	24,703	25.31%	320	0.33%	47,868	49.05%	97,594
Waynesboro City	4,465	73.45%	1,579	25.97%	35	0.58%	2,886	47.47%	6,079
Williamsburg City	1,913	56.23%	1,469	43.18%	20	0.59%	444	13.05%	3,402
Winchester City	5,055	70.68%	2,064	28.86%	33	0.46%	2,991	41.82%	7,152
Totals	1,337,078	62.29%	796,250	37.09%	13,307	0.62%	540,828	25.19%	2,146,635

By congressional district

All 10 congressional districts, including 4 that elected Democratic congressmen, voted for Reagan.^[17]

District	Reagan	Mondale	Representative
1st	62%	37%	Herbert H. Bateman
2nd	63%	37%	G. William Whitehurst
3rd	65%	35%	Thomas J. Bliley Jr.
4th	56%	43%	Norman Sisisky
5th	66%	34%	Dan Daniel
6th	66%	34%	Jim Olin
7th	69%	31%	J. Kenneth Robinson
			D. French Slaughter Jr.
8th	61%	38%	Stanford Parris
9th	58%	41%	Rick Boucher
10th	59%	41%	Frank Wolf

See also

• Presidency of Ronald Reagan

References

1. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". Uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved 2013-11-11.
2. "Virginia Elections Database » 1984 President General Election". Virginia Elections Database. Retrieved 2021-01-14.
3. "The Political Graveyard: Arlington County, Va". politicalgraveyard.com. Retrieved 2021-01-14.
4. Kurt Andersen, , Time, May 28, 1984
5. , by Evan Thomas, Time, July 2, 1984
6. Mondale's Acceptance Speech, 1984, AllPolitics
7. Martin, Douglas (2011-03-27). "Geraldine A. Ferraro, First Woman on Major Party Ticket, Dies at 75". The New York Times. pp. A1. Retrieved November 5, 2013.
8. Raines, Howell (November 7, 1984). "Reagan Wins By a Landslide, Sweeping at Least 48 States; G.O.P. Gains Strength in House". The New York Times. Retrieved November 11, 2013.
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