Any reason why Democrats fared better in the VA House (54-56 seats) compared to the State Senate?
2 seats flip in Senate is proportionate to 5 in House, so the results are pretty similar.
Yes, but the Senate hadn't been up in the Trump-era. Lots of surburban/exurban Rs holding on because upballot realignment hadn't reached the state-house yet. There was much lower hanging fruit there compared to the House of Dels where Ds were able to pick off most of the gimme races two years ago.
It looks to me like there some big whiffs in HRO (where Rs rebounded in Virginia Beach especially in SD8 and SD11), and in some Richmond and DC exurbs (close loss in SD12 and less close losses in SD11 and SD28). I also want to look at some results in SD17 where a district spanning Fredericksburg to Charlottesville and went to Northam by something like 4 points reelected a Republican narrowly.
