Democrat recount win could alter power in Virginia’s House

Workers start to remove boxes from a storage room to recount the ballots during the Newport News 94th district recount Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2017 at City Center in Newport News, Va. Officials will use a high-speed machine on to recount results from the 94th District House of Delegates race, which incumbent Republican Del. David Yancey won by 10 votes. Democratic challenger Shelly Simonds requested the recount. (Joe Fudge/The Daily Press via AP) Workers start to remove boxes from a storage room to recount the ballots during the Newport News 94th district recount Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2017 at City Center in Newport News, Va. Officials will use a high-speed machine on to recount results from the 94th District House of Delegates race, which incumbent Republican Del. David Yancey won by 10 votes. Democratic challenger Shelly Simonds requested the recount. (Joe Fudge/The Daily Press via AP)

By Associated Press December 19, 2017 4 min read

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) – A single vote may spell the end of Republican control in Virginia’s House of Delegates.

A Democratic challenger seems to have won a recount Tuesday by one vote, putting the partisan balance in the House at a tie. It would mean a rare power-sharing agreement may have to be brokered.

Shelly Simonds beat three-term incumbent Republican Del. David Yancey in the 94th District in Newport News, 11,608 to 11,607, in a dramatic hourslong recount that ended only after the precinct ballots were exhausted and provisional ballots were examined.

The recounted votes still must be certified by a court Wednesday, although officials said they expected that no ballots would be challenged.

Simonds, a school board member, had initially appeared to lose November’s election by just 10 votes.