2008 United States presidential election in Virginia

Main article: 2008 United States presidential election

The 2008 United States presidential election in Virginia took place on November 4, 2008, which was part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose 13 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

2008 United States presidential election in Virginia

← 2004 November 4, 2008 2012 →
Turnout	74.0% 3.2^[1]
Nominee Barack Obama John McCain Party Democratic Republican Home state Illinois Arizona Running mate Joe Biden Sarah Palin Electoral vote 13 0 Popular vote 1,959,532 1,725,005 Percentage 52.63% 46.33%
County and Independent City Results Congressional District Results Precinct Results Obama   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%   70-80%   80-90%   90-100% McCain   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%   70-80%   80–90% Tie/No Data
President before election George W. Bush Republican Elected President Barack Obama Democratic

Virginia was won by Democratic nominee Barack Obama by a 6.3% margin of victory. Prior to the election, 16 of 17 news organizations considered this a state Obama would win, or otherwise a likely blue state, despite the fact that Virginia had not voted for a Democratic presidential nominee since Lyndon B. Johnson's 44-state landslide in 1964. The financial meltdown, changing demographics, and population increases in voter-rich Northern Virginia helped make the state more competitive for Obama. His victory marked a powerful shift in the political climate in Virginia, as the state would go on to vote for the Democratic presidential nominee in every election thereafter.

This also marked the first presidential election since 1924 in which Virginia voted for the Democratic presidential candidate whilst neighboring West Virginia voted for the Republican candidate; in every election since, both states have voted for those respective parties. Despite Obama's victory, Virginia's margin was 0.97% more Republican than the national average, though it would be the last time Virginia voted more Republican than the nation. As of the 2020 presidential election^[update], this is the last election in which King and Queen County voted for the Democratic candidate.

Primaries

• 2008 Virginia Democratic presidential primary
• 2008 Virginia Republican presidential primary

Campaign

Virginia was one of the first Southern states to break away from its traditional Democratic roots. It voted for Dwight Eisenhower by a convincing margin in 1952, and voted for every Republican nominee since then save for Johnson's massive landslide in 1964.

However, the Democrats had made big gains in recent years with winning two gubernatorial races in a row, regaining control of the Virginia Senate, and electing Democrat Jim Webb to the U.S. Senate over incumbent Republican George Allen in 2006. Democrats made such gains in part due to the ever-expanding Northern Virginia, particularly the suburbs surrounding Washington, D.C. Historically, this area was strongly Republican. However, in recent years it has been dominated by white liberals who tend to vote Democratic.^[2] It was, ultimately, this rapid demographic change that provided a huge new influx of Democratic voters to Virginia.^[3]

Both presidential campaigns and the mainstream media treated Virginia as a swing state for most of the campaign. Obama campaigned extensively in Virginia and counted on the booming northern parts of the state for a Democratic victory. Victory in the presidential election for McCain would have been extremely difficult without Virginia; he would have had to win every swing state as well as at least one Democratic-leaning state.

Predictions

There were 16 news organizations who made state-by-state predictions of the election. Here are their last predictions before election day:

Source	Ranking
D.C. Political Report^[4]	Lean D (flip)
Cook Political Report^[5]	Lean D (flip)
The Takeaway^[6]	Lean D (flip)
Electoral-vote.com^[7]	Lean D (flip)
Washington Post^[8]	Lean D (flip)
Politico^[9]	Lean D (flip)
RealClearPolitics^[10]	Toss-up
FiveThirtyEight^[8]	Lean D (flip)
CQ Politics^[11]	Lean D (flip)
The New York Times^[12]	Lean D (flip)
CNN^[13]	Lean D (flip)
NPR^[8]	Lean D (flip)
MSNBC^[8]	Lean D (flip)
Fox News^[14]	Likely D (flip)
Associated Press^[15]	Likely D (flip)
Rasmussen Reports^[16]	Lean D (flip)

Polling

Main article: Statewide opinion polling for the United States presidential election, 2008: Virginia

After McCain clinched the Republican Party nomination in early March, he took a wide lead in polls against Obama, averaging almost 50%. But through the summer, polling was nearly dead even, with McCain only slightly leading Obama. After the Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, Obama took a wide lead in the polls. In October, Obama won every single poll taken but one, and reached over 50% in most of them. The final three polls averaged Obama leading 51% to 46%.^[17][18]

Fundraising

Obama raised $17,035,784. McCain raised $16,130,194.^[19]

Spending and visits

Obama spent over $26 million to McCain spending just $14 million.^[20] The Obama-Biden ticket visited the state 19 times compared to just 10 times for McCain-Palin.^[21]

Analysis

 

Voters wait in queue at a polling station on the campus of George Mason University

On Election Day, early returns showed McCain ahead.^[22] This was due in large part to the fact that many of the rural areas began to report first. However, Obama swamped McCain by scoring a near-sweep in Northern Virginia, which reported its returns last.

Obama did exceptionally well throughout the most populous regions of the state. Northern Virginia overwhelmingly supported Obama.^[23] In Arlington County and the independent city of Alexandria, the most traditionally Democratic jurisdictions in the region, Obama got over 70% of the vote, improving on Kerry by between 4% and 5% in both. In Fairfax County—the largest county in the state, and a then-traditionally Republican county that Kerry had become the first Democrat in 40 years to carry in 2004—Obama exceeded 60%, improving on Kerry's percentage by just shy of 7%. Just beyond Fairfax, to its south and west, Obama flipped the large counties of Loudoun and Prince William, becoming the first Democrat to carry either since 1964.

The two other major metropolitan areas in the eastern part of the state, Richmond and Hampton Roads, are somewhat less Democratic than Northern Virginia. In both areas, Obama improved significantly on John Kerry's performance.^[23] While Obama easily won Richmond itself (which is 57% African American), he also made significant inroads into Richmond's traditionally heavily Republican suburbs. He carried Henrico County with 57% of the vote; that county last supported a Democrat with Harry S. Truman in 1948.^[24] In Chesterfield County, Obama did almost 20 points better than Kerry.^[25] Both counties had historically been strongly Republican at the national level; Chesterfield had given George W. Bush his largest raw vote margin in Virginia in both 2000 and 2004.

Obama also did very well in Hampton Roads. The four Democratic-leaning cities along the harbor - Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, and Portsmouth - gave him margins exceeding 60%. Obama also split the Republican-leaning cities of Chesapeake and Virginia Beach; he barely won the former and barely lost the latter. Obama's strong performance in the area likely contributed to Democrat Glenn Nye unseating two-term Republican incumbent Thelma Drake in the 2nd Congressional District, a heavy military district which includes all of Virginia Beach and large portions of Norfolk and Hampton. Outside Virginia's three major metropolitan areas, Obama also significantly outperformed Kerry in Albemarle and Montgomery Counties and in a series of independent cities around the state, most significantly Roanoke. Albemarle County surrounds Charlottesville, home to the University of Virginia, and Montgomery County is home to Virginia Tech.

Elsewhere in rural Virginia, however, McCain did well.^[25] In the Shenandoah Valley and Southside Virginia, both traditional bases for the Republican Party in Virginia,^[26] Obama ran roughly evenly with Kerry; but in southwestern Virginia—at the time one of the more traditionally Democratic regions of the state—McCain outperformed Bush in 2004, even flipping two counties (Buchanan and Dickenson), both of which last voted Republican in 1972; Obama thus became the first Democrat to win the White House without carrying the aforementioned two counties since Woodrow Wilson in 1916. However, without the support of suburban voters in the eastern metropolitan areas of the commonwealth, McCain was ultimately unable to hold Virginia.

During the same election, former Democratic Governor Mark Warner solidly defeated former Governor (and his predecessor) Republican Jim Gilmore by a two-to-one margin for the open U.S. Senate seat vacated by incumbent Republican John Warner (no relation to Mark Warner). Warner received 65.03% of the vote while Gilmore took in 33.73%. Warner won all but five counties in the state. Democrats also picked up three seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. At the state level, Democrats picked up one seat in the Virginia House of Delegates.

Results

United States presidential election in Virginia, 2008^[27]
Party		Candidate	Running mate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Democratic	Barack Obama	Joe Biden	1,959,532	52.63%	13
	Republican	John McCain	Sarah Palin	1,725,005	46.33%	0
	Independent	Ralph Nader	Matt Gonzalez	11,483	0.31%	0
	Libertarian	Bob Barr	Wayne Allyn Root	11,067	0.30%	0
	Constitution	Chuck Baldwin	Darrell Castle	7,474	0.20%	0
	Green	Cynthia McKinney	Rosa Clemente	2,344	0.06%	0
	Write-ins	Write-ins		6,355	0.17%	0
Totals				3,723,260	100.00%	13
Voter turnout (Voting age population)						65.1%

By city/county

County/City	Barack Obama Democratic		John McCain Republican		Various candidates Other parties		Margin		Total
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Accomack	7,607	48.69%	7,833	50.14%	183	1.17%	-226	-1.45%	15,623
Albemarle	29,792	58.43%	20,576	40.36%	616	1.21%	9,216	18.07%	50,984
Alexandria	50,473	71.73%	19,181	27.26%	710	1.01%	31,292	44.47%	70,364
Alleghany	3,553	48.22%	3,715	50.41%	101	1.37%	-162	-2.19%	7,369
Amelia	2,488	38.11%	3,970	60.81%	71	1.08%	-1,482	-22.70%	6,529
Amherst	6,094	41.46%	8,470	57.62%	136	0.92%	-2,376	-16.16%	14,700
Appomattox	2,641	34.61%	4,903	64.26%	86	1.13%	-2,262	-29.65%	7,630
Arlington	78,994	71.71%	29,876	27.12%	1,283	1.17%	49,118	44.59%	110,153
Augusta	9,825	29.47%	23,120	69.35%	393	1.18%	-13,295	-39.88%	33,338
Bath	1,043	42.89%	1,349	55.47%	40	1.64%	-306	-12.58%	2,432
Bedford	11,017	30.75%	24,420	68.16%	393	1.09%	-13,403	-37.41%	35,830
Bedford City	1,208	44.18%	1,497	54.75%	29	1.07%	-289	-10.57%	2,734
Bland	864	29.20%	2,031	68.64%	64	2.16%	-1,167	-39.44%	2,959
Botetourt	5,693	32.71%	11,471	65.90%	242	1.39%	-5,778	-33.19%	17,406
Bristol	2,665	36.21%	4,579	62.22%	115	1.57%	-1,914	-26.01%	7,359
Brunswick	4,973	62.84%	2,877	36.35%	64	0.81%	2,096	26.49%	7,914
Buchanan	4,063	46.52%	4,541	51.99%	130	1.49%	-478	-5.47%	8,734
Buckingham	3,489	49.89%	3,428	49.01%	77	1.10%	61	0.88%	6,994
Buena Vista	1,108	45.73%	1,282	52.91%	33	1.36%	-174	-7.18%	2,423
Campbell	8,091	31.34%	17,444	67.58%	279	1.08%	-9,353	-36.24%	25,814
Caroline	7,163	55.45%	5,617	43.48%	139	1.07%	1,546	11.97%	12,919
Carroll	4,109	32.67%	8,187	65.08%	283	2.25%	-4,078	-32.41%	12,579
Charles City	2,838	68.34%	1,288	31.01%	27	0.65%	1,550	37.33%	4,153
Charlotte	2,705	43.93%	3,372	54.77%	80	1.30%	-667	-10.84%	6,157
Charlottesville	15,705	78.35%	4,078	20.35%	261	1.30%	11,627	58.00%	20,044
Chesapeake	53,994	50.22%	52,625	48.94%	902	0.84%	1,369	1.28%	107,521
Chesterfield	74,310	45.85%	86,413	53.31%	1,365	0.84%	-12,103	-7.46%	162,088
Clarke	3,457	46.52%	3,840	51.68%	134	1.80%	-383	-5.16%	7,431
Colonial Heights	2,562	28.95%	6,161	69.62%	126	1.43%	-3,599	-40.67%	8,849
Covington	1,304	55.40%	1,020	43.33%	30	1.27%	284	12.07%	2,354
Craig	877	33.46%	1,695	64.67%	49	1.87%	-818	-31.21%	2,621
Culpeper	8,802	44.59%	10,711	54.26%	228	1.15%	-1,909	-9.67%	19,741
Cumberland	2,255	47.73%	2,418	51.19%	51	1.08%	-163	-3.46%	4,724
Danville	12,352	59.13%	8,361	40.02%	177	0.85%	3,991	19.11%	20,890
Dickenson	3,278	48.54%	3,324	49.22%	151	2.24%	-46	-0.68%	6,753
Dinwiddie	6,246	48.45%	6,526	50.62%	120	0.93%	-280	-2.17%	12,892
Emporia	1,702	65.04%	897	34.28%	18	0.68%	805	30.76%	2,617
Essex	2,934	54.70%	2,379	44.35%	51	0.95%	555	10.35%	5,364
Fairfax	310,359	60.12%	200,994	38.93%	4,901	0.95%	109,365	21.19%	516,254
Fairfax City	6,575	57.69%	4,691	41.16%	132	1.15%	1,884	16.53%	11,398
Falls Church	4,695	69.56%	1,970	29.19%	85	1.25%	2,725	40.37%	6,750
Fauquier	14,616	42.71%	19,227	56.19%	376	1.10%	-4,611	-13.48%	34,219
Floyd	2,937	39.08%	4,441	59.09%	138	1.83%	-1,504	-20.01%	7,516
Fluvanna	6,185	48.57%	6,420	50.41%	130	1.02%	-235	-1.84%	12,735
Franklin	9,618	37.86%	15,414	60.68%	369	1.46%	-5,796	-22.82%	25,401
Franklin City	2,819	63.68%	1,576	35.60%	32	0.72%	1,243	28.08%	4,427
Frederick	12,961	38.56%	20,149	59.95%	502	1.49%	-7,188	-21.39%	33,612
Fredericksburg	6,155	63.60%	3,413	35.27%	109	1.13%	2,742	28.33%	9,677
Galax	1,052	43.80%	1,317	54.83%	33	1.37%	-265	-11.03%	2,402
Giles	3,192	40.95%	4,462	57.24%	141	1.81%	-1,270	-16.29%	7,795
Gloucester	6,916	35.98%	12,089	62.89%	217	1.13%	-5,173	-26.91%	19,222
Goochland	4,813	38.31%	7,643	60.84%	106	0.85%	-2,830	-22.53%	12,562
Grayson	2,480	34.35%	4,540	62.88%	200	2.77%	-2,060	-28.53%	7,220
Greene	3,174	38.43%	4,980	60.29%	106	1.28%	-1,806	-21.86%	8,260
Greensville	3,122	63.88%	1,729	35.38%	36	0.74%	1,393	28.50%	4,887
Halifax	8,126	48.23%	8,600	51.04%	124	0.73%	-474	-2.81%	16,850
Hampton	46,917	69.05%	20,476	30.14%	550	0.81%	26,441	38.91%	67,943
Hanover	18,447	32.80%	37,344	66.39%	457	0.81%	-18,897	-33.59%	56,248
Harrisonburg	8,444	57.54%	6,048	41.21%	183	1.25%	2,396	16.33%	14,675
Henrico	86,323	55.70%	67,381	43.48%	1,262	0.82%	18,942	12.22%	154,966
Henry	11,118	44.09%	13,758	54.56%	339	1.35%	-2,640	-10.47%	25,215
Highland	590	37.97%	930	59.85%	34	2.18%	-340	-21.88%	1,554
Hopewell	5,285	55.49%	4,149	43.56%	90	0.95%	1,136	11.93%	9,524
Isle of Wight	8,573	42.87%	11,258	56.30%	166	0.83%	-2,685	-13.43%	19,997
James City	17,352	44.95%	20,912	54.17%	339	0.88%	-3,560	-9.22%	38,603
King and Queen	1,918	51.77%	1,763	47.58%	24	0.65%	155	4.19%	3,705
King George	4,473	42.71%	5,888	56.22%	113	1.07%	-1,415	-13.51%	10,474
King William	3,344	39.87%	4,966	59.20%	78	0.93%	-1,622	-19.33%	8,388
Lancaster	3,235	46.63%	3,647	52.57%	56	0.80%	-412	-5.94%	6,938
Lee	3,219	34.89%	5,825	63.13%	183	1.98%	-2,606	-28.24%	9,227
Lexington	1,543	62.24%	914	36.87%	22	0.89%	629	25.37%	2,479
Loudoun	74,845	53.67%	63,336	45.42%	1,278	0.91%	11,509	8.25%	139,459
Louisa	6,978	45.45%	8,182	53.29%	193	1.26%	-1,204	-7.84%	15,353
Lunenburg	2,703	47.84%	2,900	51.33%	47	0.83%	-197	-3.49%	5,650
Lynchburg	16,269	47.37%	17,638	51.36%	434	1.27%	-1,369	-3.99%	34,341
Madison	2,862	42.72%	3,758	56.10%	79	1.18%	-896	-13.38%	6,699
Manassas	7,518	55.17%	5,975	43.85%	134	0.98%	1,543	11.32%	13,627
Manassas Park	2,463	59.49%	1,634	39.47%	43	1.04%	829	20.02%	4,140
Martinsville	4,139	63.48%	2,311	35.44%	70	1.08%	1,828	28.04%	6,520
Mathews	1,934	35.55%	3,456	63.53%	50	0.92%	-1,522	-27.98%	5,440
Mecklenburg	7,127	47.26%	7,817	51.83%	138	0.91%	-690	-4.57%	15,082
Middlesex	2,391	39.81%	3,545	59.02%	70	1.17%	-1,154	-19.21%	6,006
Montgomery	21,031	51.73%	19,028	46.81%	594	1.46%	2,003	4.92%	40,653
Nelson	4,391	53.99%	3,647	44.84%	95	1.17%	744	9.15%	8,133
New Kent	3,493	34.96%	6,385	63.91%	113	1.13%	-2,892	-28.95%	9,991
Newport News	51,972	63.93%	28,667	35.26%	656	0.81%	23,305	28.67%	81,295
Norfolk	62,819	71.03%	24,814	28.06%	813	0.91%	38,005	42.97%	88,446
Northampton	3,800	57.70%	2,713	41.19%	73	1.11%	1,087	16.51%	6,586
Northumberland	3,312	44.72%	4,041	54.56%	53	0.72%	-729	-9.84%	7,406
Norton	743	49.14%	744	49.21%	25	1.65%	-1	-0.07%	1,512
Nottoway	3,413	48.84%	3,499	50.07%	76	1.09%	-86	-1.23%	6,988
Orange	7,107	44.98%	8,506	53.83%	188	1.19%	-1,399	-8.85%	15,801
Page	4,235	40.76%	6,041	58.15%	113	1.09%	-1,806	-17.39%	10,389
Patrick	2,879	33.75%	5,491	64.37%	161	1.88%	-2,612	-30.62%	8,531
Petersburg	13,774	88.64%	1,583	10.19%	183	1.17%	12,191	78.45%	15,540
Pittsylvania	11,415	37.51%	18,730	61.55%	288	0.94%	-7,315	-24.04%	30,433
Poquoson	1,748	24.74%	5,229	74.01%	88	1.25%	-3,481	-49.27%	7,065
Portsmouth	32,327	69.27%	13,984	29.97%	354	0.76%	18,343	39.30%	46,665
Powhatan	4,237	29.31%	10,088	69.78%	131	0.91%	-5,851	-40.47%	14,456
Prince Edward	5,101	54.34%	4,174	44.46%	113	1.20%	927	9.88%	9,388
Prince George	7,130	44.55%	8,752	54.68%	124	0.77%	-1,622	-10.13%	16,006
Prince William	93,435	57.52%	67,621	41.63%	1,390	0.85%	25,814	15.89%	162,446
Pulaski	5,918	39.32%	8,857	58.85%	275	1.83%	-2,939	-19.53%	15,050
Radford	2,930	53.97%	2,418	44.54%	81	1.49%	512	9.43%	5,429
Rappahannock	2,105	47.79%	2,227	50.56%	73	1.65%	-122	-2.77%	4,405
Richmond	1,618	43.20%	2,092	55.86%	35	0.94%	-474	-12.66%	3,745
Richmond City	73,623	79.09%	18,649	20.03%	813	0.88%	54,974	59.06%	93,085
Roanoke	19,812	38.87%	30,571	59.97%	592	1.16%	-10,759	-21.10%	50,975
Roanoke City	24,934	61.15%	15,394	37.76%	444	1.09%	9,540	23.39%	40,772
Rockbridge	4,347	42.64%	5,732	56.22%	116	1.14%	-1,385	-13.58%	10,195
Rockingham	10,453	31.36%	22,468	67.40%	413	1.24%	-12,015	-36.04%	33,334
Russell	4,932	42.91%	6,389	55.59%	173	1.50%	-1,457	-12.68%	11,494
Salem	5,164	41.63%	7,088	57.13%	154	1.24%	-1,924	-15.50%	12,406
Scott	2,725	27.59%	6,980	70.68%	170	1.73%	-4,255	-43.09%	9,875
Shenandoah	6,912	35.96%	12,005	62.45%	306	1.59%	-5,093	-26.49%	19,223
Smyth	4,239	34.46%	7,817	63.54%	246	2.00%	-3,578	-29.08%	12,302
Southampton	4,402	48.55%	4,583	50.55%	82	0.90%	-181	-2.00%	9,067
Spotsylvania	24,897	46.05%	28,610	52.91%	562	1.04%	-3,713	-6.86%	54,069
Stafford	25,716	46.37%	29,221	52.69%	518	0.94%	-3,505	-6.32%	55,455
Staunton	5,569	50.56%	5,330	48.39%	116	1.05%	239	2.17%	11,015
Suffolk	22,446	56.24%	17,165	43.01%	297	0.75%	5,281	13.23%	39,908
Surry	2,626	60.72%	1,663	38.45%	36	0.83%	963	22.27%	4,325
Sussex	3,301	61.55%	2,026	37.78%	36	0.67%	1,275	23.77%	5,363
Tazewell	5,596	32.80%	11,201	65.65%	264	1.55%	-5,605	-32.85%	17,061
Virginia Beach	98,885	49.14%	100,319	49.85%	2,045	1.01%	-1,434	-0.71%	201,249
Warren	6,997	43.39%	8,879	55.06%	250	1.55%	-1,882	-11.67%	16,126
Washington	8,063	32.91%	16,077	65.62%	360	1.47%	-8,014	-32.71%	24,500
Waynesboro	3,906	44.09%	4,815	54.35%	139	1.56%	-909	-10.26%	8,860
Westmoreland	4,577	54.64%	3,719	44.40%	81	0.96%	858	10.24%	8,377
Williamsburg	4,328	63.77%	2,353	34.67%	106	0.95%	1,975	29.10%	6,787
Winchester	5,268	52.02%	4,725	46.66%	133	1.32%	543	5.36%	10,126
Wise	4,995	35.33%	8,914	63.05%	229	1.62%	-3,919	-27.72%	14,138
Wythe	4,107	32.88%	8,207	65.70%	177	1.42%	-4,100	-32.82%	12,491
York	13,700	40.42%	19,833	58.51%	364	1.07%	-6,133	-18.09%	33,897
Totals	1,959,532	52.63%	1,725,005	46.33%	38,723	1.04%	234,527	6.30%	3,723,260

 

County Flips:

Democratic   Hold   Gain from Republican

Republican   Hold   Gain from Democratic

Counties and independent cities that flipped from Democratic to Republican

• Buchanan (largest city: Grundy)
• Dickenson (largest borough: Clintwood)

Counties and independent cities that flipped from Republican to Democratic

• Buckingham (largest borough: Buckingham)
• Caroline (largest borough: Bowling Green)
• Chesapeake (independent city)
• Essex (largest borough: Tappahannock)
• Harrisonburg (independent city)
• Henrico (largest borough: Richmond)
• Hopewell (independent city)
• King and Queen (largest borough: King and Queen Courthouse)
• Loudoun (largest borough: Leesburg)
• Manassas (independent city)
• Manassas Park (independent city)
• Montgomery (largest borough: Blacksburg)
• Prince William (largest borough: Manassas)
• Radford (independent city)
• Staunton (independent city)
• Suffolk (independent city)
• Westmoreland (largest borough: Montross)
• Winchester (independent city)

By congressional district

Barack Obama carried 6 of the state's 11 congressional districts, including two districts won by Republicans. McCain carried 5 districts, two of which were won by Democrats.

 

District	McCain	Obama	Representative
1st	51.35%	47.67%	Jo Ann Davis (110th Congress)
			Robert J. Wittman (111th Congress)
2nd	48.48%	50.45%	Thelma Drake (110th Congress)
			Glenn Nye (111th Congress)
3rd	23.74%	75.52%	Robert C. Scott
4th	48.80%	50.33%	Randy Forbes
5th	50.59%	48.29%	Virgil Goode (110th Congress)
			Tom Perriello (111th Congress)
6th	56.93%	41.85%	Bob Goodlatte
7th	53.16%	45.89%	Eric Cantor
8th	29.65%	69.28%	Jim Moran
9th	58.71%	39.60%	Rick Boucher
10th	46.06%	52.90%	Frank Wolf
11th	42.06%	57.01%	Thomas M. Davis (110th Congress)
			Gerry Connolly (111th Congress)

Electors

Main article: List of 2008 United States presidential electors

Technically the voters of Virginia cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Virginia is allocated 13 electors because it has 11 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 13 electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and his or her running mate. Whoever wins the majority of votes in the state is awarded all 13 electoral votes. Their chosen electors then vote for president and vice president. Although electors are pledged to their candidate and running mate, they are not obligated to vote for them.^[28] An elector who votes for someone other than his or her candidate is known as a faithless elector.

The electors of each state and the District of Columbia met on December 15, 2008, to cast their votes for president and vice president. The Electoral College itself never meets as one body. Instead the electors from each state and the District of Columbia met in their respective capitols.

The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All 13 were pledged to Barack Obama and Joe Biden:^[29]

1. Christia Rey
2. Sandra Brandt
3. Betty Squire
4. Susan Johnston Rowland
5. Marc Finney
6. Dorothy Blackwell
7. James Harold Allen Boyd
8. Marian Van Landingham
9. Robert Edgar Childress
10. Rolland Winter
11. Janet Carver
12. Michael Jon
13. Sophie Ann Salley

References

1. . Virginia Department of Elections. Archived from the original on October 18, 2018. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
2. . July 12, 2007. Archived from the original on July 12, 2007.
3. Continetti, Matthew (October 2, 2006). "George Allen Monkeys Around". The Weekly Standard. Vol. 12, no. 3. Retrieved May 31, 2009.
4. . January 1, 2009. Archived from the original on January 1, 2009. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
5. . May 5, 2015. Archived from the original on May 5, 2015. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
6. . April 22, 2009. Archived from the original on April 22, 2009. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
7. "Electoral-vote.com: President, Senate, House Updated Daily". electoral-vote.com. Retrieved August 23, 2021.
8. Based on Takeaway
9. "POLITICO's 2008 Swing State Map - POLITICO.com". www.politico.com. Retrieved September 22, 2016.
10. . Archived from the original on June 5, 2008.
11. . CQ Politics. Archived from the original on June 14, 2009. Retrieved December 20, 2009.
12. Nagourney, Adam; Zeleny, Jeff; Carter, Shan (November 4, 2008). "The Electoral Map: Key States". The New York Times. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
13. . CNN. October 31, 2008. Archived from the original on June 19, 2010. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
14. "Winning The Electoral College". Fox News. April 27, 2010.
15. "roadto270". hosted.ap.org. Retrieved September 22, 2016.
16. "Election 2008: Electoral College Update - Rasmussen Reports". www.rasmussenreports.com. Retrieved September 22, 2016.
17. "2008 - Virginia: McCain vs. Obama - RealClearPolitics". www.realclearpolitics.com.
18. . Archived from the original on October 23, 2008.
19. . Archived from the original on March 24, 2009. Retrieved August 18, 2009.
20. "Map: Campaign Ad Spending - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
21. "Map: Campaign Candidate Visits - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
22. "Election 2008: Time lapse of U.S. counties". USA Today. July 4, 2008. Retrieved May 31, 2009.
23. Leip, David. "2008 Presidential General Election Results". David Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved May 31, 2009.
24. Todd, Chuck and Gawiser, Sheldon. How Barack Obama Won. New York City: Vintage, 2009.
25. . New York Times. Archived from the original on November 3, 2004. Retrieved May 31, 2009.
26. Trende, Sean (February 19, 2009). "Virginia Governor's Preview". RealClearPolitics. Retrieved May 31, 2009. The question in Virginia is always whether the Republican Party can hold together its somewhat unwieldy three-legged coalition of historically Republican Virginians in the mountainous Appalachian western portion of the state, social conservatives in the rural areas east of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and suburbanites in Northern Virginia and in the Richmond/Hampton Roads areas. Why this coalition is having troubles recently could fill a book. For our purposes, we will oversimplify somewhat and observe the following.
27. Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives. "Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election of November 4, 2008" (PDF). pp. 63 & 64.
28. . California Secretary of State. Archived from the original on October 30, 2008. Retrieved November 1, 2008.
29. (PDF). Commonwealth of Virginia State Board of Elections. September 9, 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 4, 2011. Retrieved March 18, 2011.