Democratic turnout nearly doubled in Virginia, and Virginia Democrats are gloating a bit

Turnout in Virginia's Democratic primary surged to more than 1.3 million voters, from about 783,000 in 2016 and 986,000 in 2008. Former Vice President Joe Biden, who won the state decisively, said Tuesday night that "the turnout turned out for us" in Virginia, and "there is some evidence he is correct," The Washington Post reports. "Of the voters who sat out the 2016 primary and cast ballots in 2020, Biden won nearly 60 percent, according to a Washington Post statistical model."

As in South Carolina on Saturday and other Southern states on Tuesday, Biden's win was fueled by black voters and self-described moderate white Democrats, especially in the northern Virginia suburbs, as MSNBC's Steve Kornacki explained.

YouTube

Watch On

The surge in Democratic voters is "a great sign of Democratic engagement, but it also shows how much bluer the state has become," former Deputy Labor Secretary Chris Lu tweeted. The Virginia Democratic Party agreed, snapping back at the Virginia Republican Party.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Somehow, elections used to happen without Twitter.