The 1980 United States presidential election in Virginia took place on November 4, 1980. All 50 states and the District of Columbia were part of the 1980 United States presidential election. Virginia voters chose twelve electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president of the United States.
Virginia had voted Republican in all but one of the previous seven presidential elections, largely due to its large white Washington and Richmond suburbs that received large-scale in-migration from the traditionally Republican Northeast, alongside the Shenandoah Valley, being amongst the first traditionally Democratic areas of the former Confederacy to turn Republican at both the presidential level and in federal congressional elections. After the collapse of the Byrd Organization and the expansion of the state's formerly small electorate via the Voting Rights Act, these trends intensified except in the heavily unionized coalfield portions of Southwest Virginia, where unlike elsewhere in the former Confederacy, many newly registered poor and working-class whites voted Democratic. In addition to voting Republican in six of seven presidential elections, the state's Congressional delegation would gain a Republican majority as early as the 91st Congress. Nevertheless, it was 1970 before significant GOP gains occurred in the state legislature, and it was generally acknowledged that President Nixon offered no support to down-ballot Republican candidates as he was carrying the state by a landslide margin against George McGovern, who lost every county or city in the state except Charles City.
Campaign Republican nominee, former California Governor Ronald Reagan and Democratic candidate and incumbent United States President Jimmy Carter of Georgia both campaigned in Virginia during early October. Independent state Senator Harry F. Byrd Jr., who like his father had never previously endorsed a presidential candidate, endorsed Reagan in the middle of October, saying that Carter had a dismal record in controlling federal spending and the Soviet military build-up.
Among white voters, 59% supported Reagan while 33% supported Carter.
Predictions SourceRankingAs ofKansas City StarOctober 12, 1980The Roanoke TimesOctober 26, 1980Richmond Times-DispatchOctober 26, 1980Daily PressNovember 3, 1980
Results 1980 United States presidential election in VirginiaPartyCandidateVotesPercentageElectoral votes Republican Ronald Reagan 989,609 53.03% 12 Democratic Jimmy Carter (inc.) 752,174 40.31% 0 Independent John B. Anderson 95,418 5.11% 0 Independent Barry Commoner 14,024 0.75% 0 Libertarian Ed Clark 12,821 0.69% 0 Independent Clifton DeBerry 1,986 0.11% 0 Totals 1,866,032 100.00% 12
By city/county