The 2016 United States presidential election in Virginia was held on November 8, 2016, as part of the 2016 general election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Virginia voters chose electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting the Republican nominee, businessman Donald Trump, and running mate Indiana Governor Mike Pence against Democratic nominee, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her running mate, Virginia Senator Tim Kaine.
The Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton of New York, carried Virginia with a 49.73% plurality in the popular vote against businessman Donald Trump of New York, who carried 44.41%, a victory margin of 5.32%. Clinton seemed to benefit from having former Virginia governor Tim Kaine on the ticket. Whereas the national popular vote swung 1.77% Republican from the previous election, Virginia swung 1.44% Democratic. However, due to a higher third-party vote, Clinton's percentage was lower than Obama's in both 2008 and 2012 (although her raw vote total slightly improved from Obama in 2012).
This was the first time Virginia voted for a losing Democratic candidate since 1924. The state would later vote for a Democratic nominee who lost the popular vote in 2024 by a larger margin than Clinton's 2016 margin, solidifying the state's status as a blue state.
Conversely, Trump became the first Republican since Calvin Coolidge in 1924 to win the presidency without carrying Virginia. Virginia had been a traditionally Democratic-leaning state from the party's founding until 1952. It then became reliably Republican-leaning from 1952 until 2004, after which point it has voted Democratic in every presidential election.
As of the 2024 election, Trump in 2016 is the most recent Republican candidate to win Chesapeake, Chesterfield County, James City County, Stafford County, and Virginia Beach.
Primaries
Democratic primary
The 108 delegates (95 pledged delegates and 13 super delegates) from Virginia to the Democratic National Convention were allocated in this way. Among the pledged delegates, 62 were allocated based on the popular vote in each congressional district. The 33 at-large delegates were then allocated based on the statewide popular vote.
Republican primary
The 49 delegates from Virginia to the Republican National Convention were allocated proportionally based on the popular vote.
Libertarian nomination The 2016 Libertarian Party presidential ticket was former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson for president and former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld for vice president. They earned those nominations at the Libertarian Party 2016 National ConDay weekend.
Green primary The Virginia Green Party held its primary from March 20 through April 3. Party members were able to vote online through an email ballot or through the mail. On April 13, it was announced that Jill Stein had won with 76% of the vote. The state's four delegates were apportioned at the May 28 state meeting.
+ Virginia primary, April 3, 2016 Candidate Votes Percentage National delegates Jill Stein 35 76% 3Kent Mesplay 3 6% 1William Kreml 2 4.1% -Darryl Cherney 2 3.8% -Sedinam Curry 1 1.7% -Write-ins 3 8.4% - Total 46100.00%4
General election
Polling
In polling, Hillary Clinton won or tied in every pre-election poll but one. An average of the last three polls showed Clinton ahead of Trump 48% to 43%, which was accurate compared to the results.
Voting history Virginia joined the Union in June 1788 and has participated in all elections from 1789 onwards, except 1864 and 1868 (due to its secession from the US due to the American Civil War). Since 1900, Virginia voted Democratic 54.17% of the time and Republican 45.83% of the time. From 1968 to 2004, Virginia voted for the Republican Party candidate. Then, in the 2008 and 2012 elections, the state voted for the Democratic Party. The same trend continued in the 2016 presidential elections.
Clinton had several advantages in Virginia. The first was due in part to her landslide win in the Democratic primary against Senator Bernie Sanders. The second was Virginia has a significant number of African American voters, many of whom backed Clinton in the primary and both of President Barack Obama's wins in the state. The third was the state's growing share of well-educated suburban voters, especially in the suburbs surrounding Washington, D.C., and Richmond who were moving away from the Republican Party in response to Trump being nominated for president. The fourth was Clinton's pick of the state's own US Senator, Tim Kaine, as her vice presidential running mate.
While polls throughout the campaign showed Clinton leading Republican Donald Trump by varying margins in Virginia, it was announced on October 13 that the Trump campaign was pulling its resources out of the state, likely ceding to Clinton what was perceived to be a critical battleground state. According to the Trump campaign, the reason for pulling out of Virginia was to compete in more critical battleground states like Pennsylvania, Florida, North Carolina, and Ohio, all of which were states he won.
Predictions The following are final 2016 predictions from various organizations for Virginia as of election day. SourceRankingAs ofLos Angeles TimesNovember 6, 2016CNNNovember 8, 2016 Rothenberg Political Report November 7, 2016Sabato's Crystal BallNovember 7, 2016NBCNovember 7, 2016Electoral-vote.comNovember 8, 2016RealClearPoliticsNovember 7, 2016Fox NewsNovember 7, 2016ABCNovember 8, 2016
Results
+ 2016 United States presidential election in VirginiaPartyCandidateRunning mateVotesPercentageElectoral votes Democratic Hillary Clinton Tim Kaine 1,981,473 49.73% 13 Republican Donald Trump Mike Pence 1,769,443 44.41% 0 Libertarian Gary Johnson Bill Weld 118,274 2.97% 0 Independent Evan McMullin Mindy Finn 54,054 1.36% 0 Green Jill Stein Ajamu Baraka 27,638 0.69% 0 Independent (write-in) 33,749 0.85% 0 Totals 3,984,631 100.00% 13 Voter turnout (Voting age population) 71.30%
By county and independent city