Republicans swept two special elections in two overlapping Southside districts Tuesday, sending two new lawmakers to Richmond just in time for taking their oaths of office when the General Assembly is set to reconvene for its 2024 session on Wednesday.
In the 9th state Senate District, Republican Tammy Brankley Mulchi defeated Democrat Tina Wyatt-Younger in the special election for the Senate seat vacated by Sen. Frank Ruff, R-Mecklenburg County, who is retiring for health reasons.
With all but two precincts reporting, Mulchi led Wyatt-Younger with 64% to 36%, or 11,196 to 6,307 votes, according to unofficial results by the Virginia Department of Elections. Mulchi carried every locality except Danville. “In Richmond, I am ready to get to work for our rural communities, family farmers, and Southern Virginia,” she said in a statement. “I know I have big shoes to fill with Senator Ruff retiring, but I am ready to get to work.”
In the 48th House District, GOP nominee Eric Phillips prevailed over Democrat Melody Cartwright in a special election triggered by the resignation of Del. Les Adams, R-Pittsylvania County, who is seeking a judgeship in Danville.
With all but one precinct reporting., Phillips was ahead with 72% to 28%, or 3,847 to 1,490 votes. “With Democrats in control of the General Assembly, Republicans need a fighter who will stand up for our way of life and push forward Governor Youngkin’s conservative agenda,” Phillips said in a statement. He carried all three localities in the district, including Martinsville, which often votes Democratic.
“The sweep of these special elections on Tuesday was not a surprise,” said David Richards, a political analyst and chair of the political science program at the University of Lynchburg.
“Both of these districts lean so heavily toward the GOP, but the House of Delegates and Senate retain their slight Democratic majorities regardless. I am not even sure that these elections tell us much about the way 2024 will go since they were quick elections with a low turnout in majority-Republican districts,” Richards said.
The 9th Senate District includes Pittsylvania, Halifax, Mecklenburg, Nottoway, Lunenburg and Charlotte counties, parts of Prince Edward County, and Danville. Glenn Youngkin, the 2021 GOP nominee for governor, carried the district by more than 65%.
Mulchi, 57, a member of the Clarksville Town Council and a former legislative aide for Ruff, won her party’s nomination after four rounds of voting during a GOP mass meeting in December that drew hundreds of participants to the Drakes Branch Volunteer Fire Department building in Charlotte County and lasted well past midnight. She defeated five fellow Republicans.
Just hours before Mulchi’s nomination victory, Wyatt-Younger, 54, a former member of the South Boston Town Council and town vice mayor, was elected to be her party’s nominee shortly in a four-way firehouse primary that Democrats hosted in seven locations across the district.
Just days earlier, Phillips, a small-business owner from Henry County, was elected the GOP nominee in the 48th House District, which covers Martinsville and parts of Henry County, at a mass meeting at the Old Dominion Agricultural Center in Chatham. His victory was preceded by several days of controversy during which Phillips, 47, denounced the process for selecting the date, location and nomination method. He alleged they were all decided by Will Pace, who until that day had been the chair of the 48th District Republican Legislative Committee, and who was seeking his party’s nomination himself.
Cartwright, 66, a former graphic/exhibit designer with the Museum of Natural History in Martinsville, had announced her bid for the Democratic nomination shortly after Phillips made his bid. She did not face an intra-party challenge for her nomination.