--- description: Party control for Virginia's House of Delegates—which is now tied between Democrats and Republicans—came down to one vote on Tuesday. title: One Vote Cost the GOP Control of the Virginia Legislature image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3f6c12d55ad2954b/6988f5d286f68e43246e7a67/david-yancey-shelly-simmonds.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [elections](/tag/elections/) ## elections Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # A Single Vote Just Cost the Republicans Control of the Virginia House of Delegates  by [Alana Abramson](/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 19, 2017 11:05 PM CUT  Republican David Yancey and Democrat Shelly Simonds attend a "take your legislator to school day" Tuesday, November 28 at Heritage High School in Newport News, Va. Yancey leads Simonds by ten votes in the 94th District in the Virginia House of Delegates race. Republican David Yancey and Democrat Shelly Simonds attend a "take your legislator to school day" Tuesday, November 28 at Heritage High School in Newport News, Va. Yancey leads Simonds by ten votes in the 94th District in the Virginia House of Delegates race.The Washington Post/Getty Images  by [Alana Abramson](/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 19, 2017 11:05 PM CUT Control for Virginia’s House of Delegates—which is now tied between Democrats and Republicans—came down to just one vote on Tuesday. Shelly Simonds, the Democratic candidate for the 94th district in Virginia’s House of Delegates, defeated Republican incumbent David Yancey by one vote in a recount election Tuesday. The final tally, [according to the _Washington Post,_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/democrat-wins-va-house-seat-in-recount-by-single-vote-creating-50-50-tie-in-legislature/2017/12/19/3ff227ae-e43e-11e7-ab50-621fe0588340%5Fstory.html?tid=ss%5Ftw&utm%5Fterm=.74ec23560dfe "undefined") was 11,608 votes for Simonds, and 11,607 votes for Yancey. The _Post_ reported that Yancey’s lead was just ten votes before Tuesday’s recount. Under [Virginia law,](https://www.elections.virginia.gov/Files/ElectionAdministration/ElectionLaw/Recount-Step-by-Step-2012.pdf "undefined") a losing candidate may request a recount if the vote differential is less than one percentage points cast for those two candidates. While the victory still has to be certified—the _Post_ says that will happen Wednesday—Simmonds’ victory means that the legislative body is tied 50-50 and no party controls Virginia’s House of Delegates. Republicans still narrowly control the state Senate. Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez, noting that Simonds’ victory was the 16th seat in the Virginia House of Delegates to switch from Republican to Democrat in 2017, highlighted the one vote differential in his congratulatory statement. “Just one vote secured Shelly Simonds’ victory and shifted the balance of power in the Virginia House of Delegates, ending a 17-year Republican majority. Just one vote has cleared the way for Democrats in the commonwealth to advance a progressive agenda that puts Virginia families first,” said Perez. “Simply put, every vote counts.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5072721/virginia-house-of-delegates-one-vote/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5072721/virginia-house-of-delegates-one-vote/"},"headline":"A Single Vote Just Cost the Republicans Control of the Virginia House of Delegates","datePublished":"2017-12-19T23:05:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T18:38:29.152Z","description":"\"Simply put, every vote counts\"","url":"https://time.com/5072721/virginia-house-of-delegates-one-vote/","keywords":["elections","Virginia","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3f6c12d55ad2954b/6988f5d286f68e43246e7a67/david-yancey-shelly-simmonds.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alana Abramson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3f6c12d55ad2954b/6988f5d286f68e43246e7a67/david-yancey-shelly-simmonds.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"NEWPORT NEWS, VA - November 28: Republican David Yancey and De","caption":"NEWPORT NEWS, VA - November 28: Republican David Yancey and De","creditText":"The Washington Post/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/elections/","name":"elections"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5072721/virginia-house-of-delegates-one-vote/","name":"A Single Vote Just Cost the Republicans Control of the Virginia House of Delegates"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Fascinating Election Results You Might Have Missed","description":"In local elections across the country on Nov. 7, a number of candidates won in campaigns that featured compelling twists and interesting firsts.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/zVuzT7pK/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-11-08T20:58:30.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/zVuzT7pK.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5072721/virginia-house-of-delegates-one-vote/","duration":"PT1M59S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5072721/virginia-house-of-delegates-one-vote/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```