Virginia

Virginia is a mid-Atlantic state of 8.7 million people and holds 11 congressional seats, currently split 7 Democratic, 4 Republican. It is one of the few competitive states that has trended steadily Democratic over the past decade, driven by the expanding DC suburbs in Northern Virginia. The state legislature has a Democratic majority; the governor is Glenn Youngkin (R). Loudoun County, on the western edge of the DC metro area, anchors the world's largest data centre cluster and is the state's fastest-growing jurisdiction by assessed value.

Virginia is the global epicentre of data centre density, led by Loudoun County, which rejected its own moratorium in March 2025 and continues to approve projects via a mandatory special exception process. On 12 February 2026 the Loudoun Planning Commission voted 7-1-1 to recommend a 268,700 sq ft industrial rezoning for data centre use; the county's Phase 2 standards process is scheduled for potential adoption in December 2026. Good Jobs First calculates that Virginia loses more than $1 billion per year in data centre sales-and-use tax abatements. The Virginia Court of Appeals upheld a lower-court ruling in April 2026 that Prince William County had fast-tracked a roughly 2,000-acre rezoning near Manassas National Battlefield Park without adequate public notice.

Virginia held a statewide referendum on 21 April 2026 on whether to authorise the legislature to undertake mid-decade redistricting, which polling indicated could produce up to four additional Democratic congressional seats. The Washington Post polled the referendum at 52-47 percent Yes with roughly $79 million in combined campaign spending. The Cook Political Report moved five Virginia seats toward Democrats on a voided map ahead of the vote. The outcome and its downstream effect on the 2026 House map are a central variable in Democrats' PATH to a majority.