1976 United States presidential election in Virginia: Difference between revisions

Virginia had voted Republican at all but one of the previous six presidential elections, largely due to its large white Washington and [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]] suburbs that received large-scale in-migration from the Northeast,<ref>{{cite book|title=Old Dominion, New Commonwealth: A History of Virginia, 1607-2007|last=Heinemann|first=Ronald L.|page=357|year=2008|location=[[Charlottesville, Virginia|Charlottesville]]|publisher=[[University of Virginia Press]]|isbn=0813927692}}</ref> alongside the [[Shenandoah Valley]],<ref>{{cite book|last=[[Kevin Phillips (political commentator)|Phillips]]|first=Kevin P.|title=The Emerging Republican Majority|pages=260–266|isbn=0870000586|date=1969}}</ref> being amongst the first traditionally Democratic areas of the former Confederacy to turn Republican at both the presidential level and in federal congressional elections.<ref>{{cite book|last=Atkinson|first=Frank B.|title=The Dynamic Dominion: Realignment and the Rise of Two-party Competition in Virginia, 1945-1980|year=2006|isbn=9780742552098|publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]]}}</ref> After the collapse of the [[Byrd Organization]] and the expansion of the state’sstate's formerly small electorate via the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965|Voting Rights Act]], these trends intensified except in the heavily unionised coalfields of [[Southwest Virginia]], where unlike elsewhere in the Confederacy, many newly registered poor whites voted Democratic. The statewide Democratic party was severely divided into conservative, moderate and liberal factions,<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bass|first1=Jack|last2=De Vries|first2=Walter|title=The Transformation of Southern Politics: Social Change and Political Consequence Since 1945|year=1995|pages=347–353}}</ref> so that in addition to voting Republican in five of six presidential elections, Virginia’sVirginia's Congressional delegation would gain a Republican majority as early as [[91st United States Congress|the 91st Congress]], although it was 1970 before significant GOP gains occurred in the state legislature.

Ford won 6 of 10 congressional districts. Ford won four districts held by Democrats, whilst three of Carter’sCarter's four districts were held by Republicans, and another was gained by a Republican after the incumbent Democrat retired.<ref>{{cite report|date=1981|title=Politics in America|publisher=Congressional Quarterly, inc|pages=1234–1251}}</ref>