CR Nation

And here is what they had to say –

The Valley remained the conservative base of Virginia, shaking off resurgent Democrats and sticking to its principles.

Many General Assembly members in the Valley were unopposed. The two Republican senate candidates running to fill open seats were Mayor Ralph Smith and Jill Holtzman Vogel. Smith won with 51% of the vote and Vogel won with 48%. Both will quickly become conservative voices in the General Assembly. Smith replaces consistent Republican Brandon Bell and Vogel replaces the liberal Republican Russ Potts.

Senator Mark Obenshain, Senator Emmett Hanger, Delegate Matt Lohr, Delegate Anne B. Crockett-Stark, Delegate Lacey Putney, and Delegate William Fralin all faced opposition, but won with large majorities.

In Harrisonburg/Rockingham County, Republicans picked up the Clerk of the Court position with a 213 vote win by ex-Allen staffer Chaz Evans-Haywood (I believe we can put the hyphen back Chaz!).

Northern Virginia and Tidewater may not have provided the backing Republicans needed to continue their majorities in both houses of the GA, but without the national mood being as it is, Democrats would not have eked out narrow victories in those two areas. The general ideological mood of the country is always in flux. 2009 will be a big year for Republicans.