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A Democratic Night Across the DMV as the Party Reclaims the U.S. House

Democrats won control of the U.S. House while the Senate stayed undecided. In the DMV, Moore and Vindman held, Washington elected a new mayor, and ballot measures reshaped both states.

Developing (election night, Nov. 3): The counts below are unofficial election-night tallies and projections. Some races, including control of the U.S. Senate, had not been decided when this was published. Figures may change.

It was a Democratic night in the Washington region, and across much of the country. By late Tuesday the Associated Press and the networks projected that Democrats had won control of the U.S. House, flipping the chamber Republicans had held by a four-seat margin going into the midterms. The fight for the Senate was still unresolved. And in the DMV, the party ran the table: a reelected governor in Maryland, a held battleground seat in Virginia, a new mayor in Washington, and a slate of ballot measures that will reshape both states' constitutions and maps for years.

Here is where things stood late on election night, and why each piece matters for people who live here.

The House flips, the Senate hangs

Going into Tuesday, Republicans held the House 218 to 214 and the Senate 53 to 47. By the evening, NBC News and CBS News projected Democrats would take the House, and CNBC's desk showed the party crossing the 218 seats needed for a majority. That alone resets Washington: a Democratic House can block the president's agenda, run oversight and control the committees that write spending bills.

The Senate was a harder climb. Democrats needed a net gain of four seats and, by the networks' count, had flipped a Republican-held seat in South Carolina and, per the AP, sent Roy Cooper to the Senate from North Carolina, another pickup, while Jon Ossoff held his seat in Georgia. Whether the party could complete the run depended on a handful of outstanding races, Michigan among them. As of this writing, no network had called the chamber.

Maryland: Moore holds, and voters rewrite the map rules

Gov. Wes Moore won a second term, the AP projected, turning back former Del. Dan Cox in a rematch of their 2022 contest and leading with better than six in ten votes in the early count. Rep. Jamie Raskin and the state's other House Democrats were reelected, and no Republican House pickups had been reported in the state.

The most consequential Maryland result may be a ballot question. Voters approved Question 3, a constitutional amendment that strips existing map-drawing criteria from the state constitution and clears the way for Democrats to redraw Maryland's congressional districts for 2028, with the state's single Republican seat the likely target. It does not change any district this year, but it changes what the next map can look like.

Virginia: a held seat, a possible flip and three amendments

In Virginia's 7th District, one of the region's true battlegrounds, first-term Rep. Eugene Vindman won reelection, the AP called at 8:40 p.m., defeating Republican Doug Ollivant and leading comfortably in the early returns. Democrats James Walkinshaw, Don Beyer and Suhas Subramanyam also held their seats.

The night's nail-biter was the 1st District, where Democrat Shannon Taylor led Republican Rep. Rob Wittman by less than two points with nearly all of the vote counted. No outlet had called the race, and a Taylor win would flip a long-held Republican seat.

Virginians also approved all three constitutional amendments on the ballot: a right to reproductive freedom, marriage equality and the automatic restoration of voting rights to people who have completed felony sentences. The reproductive-rights measure passed with about 62 percent.

Washington: a new mayor and a new delegate

The District elected Janeese Lewis George as mayor, its first new leader since 2015, in the first D.C. mayoral race in 12 years without Muriel Bowser and the first conducted under ranked-choice voting. Former councilmember Robert White won the District's nonvoting House seat, succeeding Eleanor Holmes Norton after more than three decades.

What DMV Residents Should Watch

  • The Senate call. Control of the chamber, and with it the president's judicial and cabinet picks, was still undecided. The outstanding races will settle it.
  • Virginia's 1st. A margin this thin can trigger a recount. Watch for a call, and for whether the delegation shifts another seat toward the Democrats.
  • Maryland's map. With Question 3 approved, the next redistricting fight moves to Annapolis and almost certainly to court.
  • Certification. Every result here is unofficial until state and District boards certify, typically over the next few weeks.

Sources

WDCM Editorial
Written by

WDCM Editorial is the byline on news and feature stories produced through Washington DC Magazine's editorial process — AI-assisted research, reviewed and approved by Editor-in-Chief Rod Wright.

EDITOR IN CHIEF: RODRIQUEZ WRIGHT II

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