Going into Election Day, Democrat Mark Warner was considered a heavy favorite to prevail over Ed Gillespie, a Republican, in Virginia’s U.S. Senate race. Early returns, however, are showing a closer-than-expected race.
At the moment, with about 88 percent of precincts reporting, Gillespie reportedly leads Warner by three percentage points. However, many precincts in liberal-leaning Northern Virginia have yet to report results. At this point, Warner must still be considered the favorite, but the outcome will likely be very close.
Watching #VASEN: 88% of precincts reporting… Gillespie 50, Warner 47. (47% of precincts in Fairfax have reported.)
— Steven Portnoy (@stevenportnoy) November 5, 2014
Ed Gillespie has taken a 10% lead in Virginia Beach. That's a HUGE turn of events
— Tucker Martin (@jtuckermartin) November 5, 2014
Warner is going to outperform Gillespie in NOVA. GOP also has a good, competitive candidate in Fairfax in @BarbaraComstock, which matters.
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) November 5, 2014
Gillespie really killed it in the D.C. suburbs. Won Stafford by 18. Romney won by 9.
— Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) November 5, 2014
Gillespie winning in Prince William which Romney and Cucc did not do
— Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) November 5, 2014
Keep an eye on this race.
Update:
79 pct of Arlington now reported & margin narrows. Helluva race in VA tonight.
— Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) November 5, 2014
Loudoun gone south on Warner. Outer DC burbs really problematic.
— Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) November 5, 2014
“@NBC12: 89% reporting
Ed Gillespie 49.85%
Mark Warner 47.67% #VASen #DecVA”
Woo-eeee close!— Ann Padgett (@dnapadg) November 5, 2014
https://twitter.com/zachdcarter/status/529827340910878720
With 94% reporting. Republican Ed Gillespie's lead in #VAsen has shrunk to .3% http://t.co/aVvAIq3tUK
— Ethan Klapper (@ethanklapper) November 5, 2014
If margin of defeat is between 0.5%-1.0% in Virginia US Senate, candidate requesting recount would pay $10 per precinct to pay for recount
— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) November 5, 2014
Still razor thin:
With 95 percent of the vote in, Gillespie leads by 424 votes. A recount is now a realistic possibility #VASen
— Markus Schmidt (@MSchmidtRVA) November 5, 2014
Just ran the numbers, folks: Gillespie has a real chance of pulling this out in #VASen if NoVa percentages remain what they are.
— ¯_(ツ)_/¯ (@TomCrowe) November 5, 2014
https://twitter.com/rkylesmith/status/529838560976060416
Update:
Warner has taken a narrow lead.
UPDATE: New numbers show Warner (D) has 49% of the vote and Gillespie (R) has 48%. Warner up by 14,865 votes with 98% of precincts reporting
— Ashton Sosnowski (@ashton_r_smith) November 5, 2014
Warner's first lead all night in #VASen:
Reporting: 2,512 of 2,557 (98.24%)
Warner (D) 1,043,554 49.18%
Gillespie (R) 1,024,340 48.27%— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) November 5, 2014