Democratic candidate Aaron Rouse, whose career includes time in the NFL and a current run as a member of the city council in Virginia Beach, has apparently won a special election in the Virginia Beach and Norfolk area for a state Senate seat recently vacated by a Republican, according to early results.
Rouse claimed victory, and the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, which is an official party organization that deals with state legislative races, also claimed a win. The evident victory will add a seat to the Democratic majority in the Virginia state Senate, where incumbents will be facing voters later this year since Virginia holds elections at the state level and lower in odd-numbered years. Republicans previously held this state Senate seat for at least ten years, and Donald Trump won in the district in 2016.
In comments reported this week by a Virginia ABC affiliate, Rouse focused in part on an ambition to secure abortion rights. “I want to protect women’s reproductive healthcare,” he said. “I want to make sure we build a thriving economy that works for everyone and our public education system. We have to support our teachers, our staff and our students.” Rouse, who early results showed leading by nearly one percent out of about 38,500 votes cast, faced Republican Kevin Adams after Jen Kiggans, the GOP’er who formerly held the seat, won a race for Congress and departed the state position.
The area has seen a significant level of partisan shift in recent years, although those changes weren’t all the same direction. Glenn Youngkin, the Republican who clinched the Virginia governorship in 2021, led (significantly) in that year’s formulation of the Congressional district Kiggans later won, which includes some of the same areas in the state Senate district. Biden won in the 2020 presidential race in Virginia Beach, a little under half of which is reportedly in the state Senate district Rouse clinched this week. Youngkin also prevailed in the 2021 general election in Virginia Beach itself in addition to the 2nd Congressional District, marking a direct change in the community. The Democratic victory in this election follows wins for the party in the 2022 midterm elections that allowed it to retain control of the U.S. Senate and hold onto roles as governor in highly contested states like Michigan and Wisconsin.
THANK YOU! With your support, and the support of voters from across Virginia Beach and Norfolk, we have won this Special Election. No rest for the weary – tomorrow, we head to Richmond to get to work for Virginia families. pic.twitter.com/F6J8uN9hQc
— Aaron Rouse (@AaronRouseVaBch) January 11, 2023
