By Jin Ni
Democrat Joe Biden defeated Republican President Donald Trump among Virginia voters in the race for president.
The state contributes 13 votes to the Electoral College; it takes 270 votes to win the presidency.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Biden had won 2.28 million votes, or almost 54 percent to Trump’s 1.89 million voters or more than 44 percent. Five precincts remain uncounted out of 2585 statewide.
In Lexington, Biden received 64 percent of votes, compared with only 17 percent in Rockbridge County. Trump captured 8 percent of the vote in Rockbridge County and also received majority support in Buena Vista, receiving 66 percent of the votes.
Trump made noise about carrying Virginia, doing a quick campaign rally at the Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport in September that drew thousands of supporters.
“We’re hoping for a crushing victory,” said Rockbridge Area Republican Committee chairman Doug Smith on Tuesday night.
Overall, though, the state was not a focus of either presidential campaign.
While Virginia was considered a swing state as recently as 2012, it has trended sharply toward Democrats over the past decade, especially in the populous northern Virginia suburbs.
Republicans have not won statewide in Virginia since 2009. Last year, Democrats took control of both houses in the state’s General Assembly.
By 9 p.m. Tuesday, the Associated Press also called the race for congressional incumbents Rep. Ben L. Cline (R) and Sen. Mark R. Warner (D). Both are projected to win reelection.
Cline currently represents Virginia’s 6th congressional district, which covers Roanoke, Lynchburg and most of the Shenandoah Valley.
Cline received overwhelming support in Rockbridge County, carrying it with 83 percent of the votes. His fellow Republican, Senate candidate Daniel M. Gade, received popular support in Rockbridge County, with 76 percent of the votes.
Lexington has traditionally voted differently than surrounding Rockbridge County and Buena Vista.
But a divisive political climate has put that difference into sharper contrast.
In 2016, 62 percent of voters voted for Donald Trump in Rockbridge County, compared to this year’s 81 percent.
“I think this county is becoming more polarized and the middle is being forgotten. Itkind of makes me sad more than anything else,” said John Feinauer, a voter at the Rockbridge Area Relief Association polling place this morning. “If you have a slightly different opinion from anyone else, you’re damned and put down and dismissed and degraded. And to me, that is not American.”
In Lexington, Warner won the U.S. Senate race with 67 percent of the votes.
According to the Virginia Department of Elections, results are not finalized until all absentee ballots have been counted. Absentee ballots will be accepted until noon on Nov. 6.
Precinct election chief Jim Gianniny said this year has been the biggest voter turnout he’s seen in the six years he’s been working for Lexington.
“It has been challenging because of COVID and everybody maintaining social distance and shields and protection,” Gianniny said. “But the voters have been really good about it.”
Both pens and voting booths were sanitized after use.
Gianniny also said that since more than 2,000 people voted early this year, polling officials saw fewer in-person voters than in the last election.
“But we’re just happy that we’ve got the number of people participating in this election,” Gianniny said.
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The Associated Press and Mary Alice Russell of the Rockbridge Report contributed to this article.