1984 United States presidential election in Virginia explained

See main article: 1984 United States presidential election.

Election Name:	1984 United States presidential election in Virginia
Country:	Virginia
Type:	presidential
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	1980 United States presidential election in Virginia
Previous Year:	1980
Next Election:	1988 United States presidential election in Virginia
Next Year:	1988
Election Date:	November 6, 1984
Image1:	Ronald Reagan presidential portrait (cropped).jpg
Nominee1:	Ronald Reagan
Party1:	Republican Party (United States)
Home State1:	California
Running Mate1:	George H. W. Bush
Electoral Vote1:	12
Popular Vote1:	1,337,078
Percentage1:	62.29%
Nominee2:	Walter Mondale
Party2:	Democratic Party (United States)
Home State2:	Minnesota
Running Mate2:	Geraldine Ferraro
Electoral Vote2:	0
Popular Vote2:	796,250
Percentage2:	37.09%
Map Size:	435px
President
Before Election:	Ronald Reagan
Before Party:	Republican Party (United States)
After Election:	Ronald Reagan
After Party:	Republican Party (United States)

The 1984 United States presidential election in Virginia took place on November 6, 1984. All 50 states and the District of Columbia, were part of the 1984 United States presidential election. Virginia voters chose 12 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president of the United States.

Virginia was won by incumbent United States President Ronald Reagan of California, who was running against former Vice President Walter Mondale of Minnesota. Reagan ran for a second time with incumbent Vice President and former C.I.A. Director George H. W. Bush of Texas, and Mondale ran with Representative Geraldine Ferraro of New York, the first major female candidate for the vice presidency.

Virginia weighed in for this election as 5 points more Republican than the national average., this is the last election in which the independent cities of Franklin, Lexington, Roanoke, and Falls Church voted for the Republican candidate, and the last election when Virginia voted to the right of Mississippi. Reagan won Virginia by a landslide 25 percentage point margin. Virginia, which had been the only former Confederate state to vote for Gerald Ford in 1976, had, unlike many other Southern states, not even been particularly close in 1980: Virginia rejected the incumbent Southerner, Jimmy Carter, in favor of Reagan by nearly 13 points. 1984 confirmed Virginia's position as a center of the emerging Republican South; Reagan's 62.3 percent vote share in the state made it his seventeenth best nationally, and his fourth-best in the former Confederacy, after Florida, Texas, and South Carolina. (Of those three, Florida and Texas had similarly decisively rejected Carter in 1980.)

Reagan performed well throughout all of Virginia's regions, relegating Mondale mostly to some largely African-American counties in the east, some highly unionized coal counties in southwest Virginia, and the independent cities of Alexandria, Norfolk, Richmond, and Portsmouth.^[1] Particularly noteworthy, however, was Reagan's strong performance in Virginia's large, suburban counties: he got over sixty percent of the vote in Fairfax County, which cast the most votes of any of the state's jurisdictions, and over seventy percent in the independent city of Virginia Beach, Henrico County, and Chesterfield County. He also got over of the vote in the emerging exurb of Prince William County.

Mondale flipped Arlington County, making Reagan the first Republican since William Howard Taft in 1908 to win the White House without carrying that county. Mondale also flipped the city of Alexandria. These were among a handful of counties nationwide that flipped against Reagan. ^[2]

Campaign

72% of white voters supported Reagan while 27% supported Mondale.

Results

1984 United States presidential election in Virginia^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	Ronald Reagan (inc.)	1,337,078	62.29%	12
	Democratic	Walter Mondale	796,250	37.09%	0
	Independent Democrat	Lyndon LaRouche	13,307	0.62%	0
Totals			2,146,635	100.0%	12

Results by county or independent city

County/City	Ronald Reagan Republican		Walter Mondale Democratic		Lyndon LaRouche Independent Democrat		Margin		Total
		%		%		%		%
	Accomack		8,047		64.55%		4,355		34.94%		64		0.51%		3,692		29.61%		12,466
	Albemarle		14,455		64.16%		7,982		35.43%		93		0.41%		6,473		28.73%		22,530
	Alexandria		21,166		46.77%		23,552		52.05%		535		1.18%		-2,386		-5.28%		45,253
	Alleghany		3,067		60.89%		1,932		38.36%		38		0.75%		1,135		22.53%		5,037
	Amelia		2,336		61.41%		1,432		37.64%		36		0.95%		904		23.77%		3,804
	Amherst		7,004		66.51%		3,409		32.37%		117		1.11%		3,595		34.14%		10,530
	Appomattox		3,386		68.65%		1,498		30.37%		48		0.97%		1,888		38.28%		4,932
	Arlington		34,848		48.24%		37,031		51.26%		363		0.50%		-2,183		-3.02%		72,242
	Augusta		15,308		79.22%		3,899		20.18%		116		0.60%		11,409		59.04%		19,323
	Bath		1,434		65.93%		727		33.43%		14		0.64%		707		32.50%		2,175
	Bedford		10,371		68.15%		4,754		31.24%		92		0.60%		5,617		36.91%		15,217
	Bedford City		1,553		60.36%		997		38.75%		23		0.89%		556		21.61%		2,573
	Bland		1,812		67.29%		867		32.19%		14		0.52%		945		35.10%		2,693
	Botetourt		5,959		64.15%		3,243		34.91%		87		0.94%		2,716		29.24%		9,289
	Bristol		5,012		67.11%		2,429		32.53%		27		0.36%		2,583		34.58%		7,468
	Brunswick		2,950		48.58%		3,040		50.06%		83		1.37%		-90		-1.48%		6,073
	Buchanan		5,053		38.71%		7,828		59.97%		172		1.32%		-2,775		-21.26%		13,053
	Buckingham		2,627		57.36%		1,879		41.03%		74		1.62%		748		16.33%		4,580
	Buena Vista		1,335		64.40%		724		34.93%		14		0.68%		611		29.47%		2,073
	Campbell		13,388		74.69%		4,380		24.44%		156		0.87%		9,008		50.25%		17,924
	Caroline		2,949		48.04%		3,111		50.68%		78		1.27%		-162		-2.64%		6,138
	Carroll		7,056		70.26%		2,914		29.02%		72		0.72%		4,142		41.24%		10,042
	Charles City		776		30.03%		1,776		68.73%		32		1.24%		-1,000		-38.70%		2,584
	Charlotte		2,999		61.76%		1,811		37.29%		46		0.95%		1,188		24.47%		4,856
	Charlottesville		6,947		48.56%		7,317		51.15%		42		0.29%		-370		-2.59%		14,306
	Chesapeake		27,542		61.64%		16,740		37.46%		402		0.90%		10,802		24.18%		44,684
	Chesterfield		54,896		79.78%		13,739		19.97%		176		0.26%		41,157		59.81%		68,811
	Clarke		2,529		67.21%		1,215		32.29%		19		0.50%		1,314		34.92%		3,763
	Clifton Forge		965		51.44%		896		47.76%		15		0.80%		69		3.68%		1,876
	Colonial Heights		6,387		83.71%		1,218		15.96%		25		0.33%		5,169		67.75%		7,630
	Covington		1,722		54.46%		1,391		43.99%		49		1.55%		331		10.47%		3,162
	Craig		1,173		57.70%		845		41.56%		15		0.74%		328		16.14%		2,033
	Culpeper		5,596		70.60%		2,255		28.45%		75		0.95%		3,341		42.15%		7,926
	Cumberland		2,027		60.89%		1,237		37.16%		65		1.95%		790		23.73%		3,329
	Danville		12,141		66.85%		5,846		32.19%		174		0.96%		6,295		34.66%		18,161
	Dickenson		3,921		44.34%		4,848		54.82%		75		0.85%		-927		-10.48%		8,844
	Dinwiddie		4,547		56.04%		3,485		42.95%		82		1.01%		1,062		13.09%		8,114
	Emporia		1,252		60.25%		807		38.84%		19		0.91%		445		21.41%		2,078
	Essex		2,120		61.63%		1,300		37.79%		20		0.58%		820		23.84%		3,440
	Fairfax		183,181		62.88%		107,295		36.83%		822		0.28%		75,886		26.05%		291,298
	Fairfax City		6,234		65.36%		3,263		34.21%		41		0.43%		2,971		31.15%		9,538
	Falls Church		2,684		52.62%		2,398		47.01%		19		0.37%		286		5.61%		5,101
	Fauquier		10,319		71.41%		4,056		28.07%		76		0.53%		6,263		43.34%		14,451
	Floyd		3,431		67.69%		1,599		31.54%		39		0.77%		1,832		36.15%		5,069
	Fluvanna		2,247		62.21%		1,332		36.88%		33		0.91%		915		25.33%		3,612
	Franklin		7,684		60.21%		4,903		38.42%		175		1.37%		2,781		21.79%		12,762
	Franklin City		1,561		49.87%		1,537		49.11%		32		1.02%		24		0.76%		3,130
	Frederick		9,542		77.79%		2,671		21.77%		54		0.44%		6,871		56.02%		12,267
	Fredericksburg		3,500		58.60%		2,439		40.83%		34		0.57%		1,061		17.77%		5,973
	Galax		1,548		65.18%		814		34.27%		13		0.55%		734		30.91%		2,375
	Giles		4,340		58.18%		3,047		40.84%		73		0.98%		1,293		17.34%		7,460
	Gloucester		7,109		70.91%		2,830		28.23%		86		0.86%		4,279		42.68%		10,025
	Goochland		3,404		60.60%		2,178		38.78%		35		0.62%		1,226		21.82%		5,617
	Grayson		4,508		65.43%		2,319		33.66%		63		0.91%		2,189		31.77%		6,890
	Greene		2,216		73.87%		760		25.33%		24		0.80%		1,456		48.54%		3,000
	Greensville		2,304		48.28%		2,352		49.29%		116		2.43%		-48		-1.01%		4,772
	Halifax		6,726		60.58%		4,231		38.11%		146		1.31%		2,495		22.47%		11,103
	Hampton		25,537		57.95%		18,180		41.25%		351		0.80%		7,357		16.70%		44,068
	Hanover		18,800		79.26%		4,831		20.37%		87		0.37%		13,969		58.89%		23,718
	Harrisonburg		5,221		68.15%		2,384		31.12%		56		0.73%		2,837		37.03%		7,661
	Henrico		63,864		74.74%		21,336		24.97%		248		0.29%		42,528		49.77%		85,448
	Henry		12,693		63.76%		6,976		35.04%		237		1.19%		5,717		28.72%		19,906
	Highland		997		70.91%		398		28.31%		11		0.78%		599		42.60%		1,406
	Hopewell		5,661		68.27%		2,564		30.92%		67		0.81%		3,097		37.35%		8,292
	Isle of Wight		5,664		60.18%		3,650		38.78%		98		1.04%		2,014		21.40%		9,412
	James City		7,104		66.54%		3,486		32.65%		87		0.81%		3,618		33.89%		10,677
	King and Queen		1,449		54.39%		1,201		45.08%		14		0.53%		248		9.31%		2,664
	King George		2,356		61.34%		1,450		37.75%		35		0.91%		906		23.59%		3,841
	King William		2,803		65.43%		1,448		33.80%		33		0.77%		1,355		31.63%		4,284
	Lancaster		3,416		67.72%		1,559		30.91%		69		1.37%		1,857		36.81%		5,044
	Lee		5,365		50.83%		5,085		48.18%		104		0.99%		280		2.65%		10,554
	Lexington		1,197		55.34%		946		43.74%		20		0.92%		251		11.60%		2,163
	Loudoun		17,765		67.99%		8,227		31.49%		136		0.52%		9,538		36.50%		26,128
	Louisa		3,789		57.91%		2,703		41.31%		51		0.78%		1,086		16.60%		6,543
	Lunenburg		2,713		59.94%		1,754		38.75%		59		1.30%		959		21.19%		4,526
	Lynchburg		18,047		67.41%		8,542		31.91%		183		0.68%		9,505		35.50%		26,772
	Madison		2,723		67.15%		1,302		32.11%		30		0.74%		1,421		35.04%		4,055
	Manassas		4,613		71.34%		1,824		28.21%		29		0.45%		2,789		43.13%		6,466
	Manassas Park		975		71.96%		375		27.68%		5		0.37%		600		44.28%		1,355
	Martinsville		4,234		58.37%		2,942		40.56%		78		1.08%		1,292		17.81%		7,254
	Mathews		2,868		71.61%		1,106		27.62%		31		0.77%		1,762		43.99%		4,005
	Mecklenburg		6,777		65.69%		3,438		33.33%		101		0.98%		3,339		32.36%		10,316
	Middlesex		2,612		67.23%		1,206		31.04%		67		1.72%		1,406		36.19%		3,885
	Montgomery		12,428		62.88%		7,202		36.44%		135		0.68%		5,226		26.44%		19,765
	Nelson		2,777		57.22%		2,021		41.64%		55		1.13%		756		15.58%		4,853
	New Kent		2,679		68.71%		1,204		30.88%		16		0.41%		1,475		37.83%		3,899
	Newport News		33,614		60.35%		21,834		39.20%		250		0.45%		11,780		21.15%		55,698
	Norfolk		36,360		48.15%		38,913		51.53%		243		0.32%		-2,553		-3.38%		75,516
	Northampton		2,906		55.81%		2,226		42.75%		75		1.44%		680		13.06%		5,207
	Northumberland		3,166		68.41%		1,407		30.40%		55		1.19%		1,759		38.01%		4,628
	Norton		806		48.32%		842		50.48%		20		1.20%		-36		-2.16%		1,668
	Nottoway		3,418		59.00%		2,296		39.63%		79		1.36%		1,122		19.37%		5,793
	Orange		4,483		65.72%		2,285		33.50%		53		0.78%		2,198		32.22%		6,821
	Page		5,021		66.78%		2,437		32.41%		61		0.81%		2,584		34.37%		7,519
	Patrick		4,703		70.47%		1,908		28.59%		63		0.94%		2,795		41.88%		6,674
	Petersburg		5,753		38.17%		9,248		61.35%		73		0.48%		-3,495		-23.18%		15,074
	Pittsylvania		15,743		66.08%		7,791		32.70%		290		1.22%		7,952		33.38%		23,824
	Poquoson		3,667		84.73%		647		14.95%		14		0.32%		3,020		69.78%		4,328
	Portsmouth		18,940		46.42%		21,623		53.00%		238		0.58%		-2,683		-6.58%		40,801
	Powhatan		3,921		73.61%		1,381		25.92%		25		0.47%		2,540		47.69%		5,327
	Prince Edward		3,454		56.11%		2,589		42.06%		113		1.84%		865		14.05%		6,156
	Prince George		4,999		69.64%		2,136		29.76%		43		0.60%		2,863		39.88%		7,178
	Prince William		34,992		68.88%		15,631		30.77%		180		0.35%		19,361		38.11%		50,803
	Pulaski		8,242		64.90%		4,364		34.36%		93		0.73%		3,878		30.54%		12,699
	Radford		2,855		61.15%		1,781		38.15%		33		0.71%		1,074		23.00%		4,669
	Rappahannock		1,696		62.65%		999		36.90%		12		0.44%		697		25.75%		2,707
	Richmond		1,869		68.46%		830		30.40%		31		1.14%		1,039		38.06%		2,730
	Richmond City		38,754		43.73%		49,408		55.75%		466		0.53%		-10,654		-12.02%		88,628
	Roanoke		23,348		68.56%		10,569		31.04%		137		0.40%		12,779		37.52%		34,054
	Roanoke City		19,008		52.09%		17,300		47.41%		184		0.50%		1,708		4.68%		36,492
	Rockbridge		4,067		65.66%		2,098		33.87%		29		0.47%		1,969		31.79%		6,194
	Rockingham		13,480		75.70%		4,220		23.70%		107		0.60%		9,260		52.00%		17,807
	Russell		5,738		45.54%		6,760		53.66%		101		0.80%		-1,022		-8.12%		12,599
	Salem		6,419		65.43%		3,347		34.12%		44		0.45%		3,072		31.31%		9,810
	Scott		5,804		59.10%		3,904		39.75%		113		1.15%		1,900		19.35%		9,821
	Shenandoah		9,048		76.03%		2,771		23.29%		81		0.68%		6,277		52.74%		11,900
	Smyth		8,593		67.08%		4,102		32.02%		116		0.91%		4,491		35.06%		12,811
	South Boston		1,899		65.64%		974		33.67%		20		0.69%		925		31.97%		2,893
	Southampton		4,669		57.99%		3,300		40.99%		82		1.02%		1,369		17.00%		8,051
	Spotsylvania		8,207		66.74%		4,012		32.63%		78		0.63%		4,195		34.11%		12,297
	Stafford		10,293		69.63%		4,429		29.96%		60		0.41%		5,864		39.67%		14,782
	Staunton		6,137		74.88%		2,012		24.55%		47		0.57%		4,125		50.33%		8,196
	Suffolk		10,128		52.97%		8,842		46.25%		149		0.78%		1,286		6.72%		19,119
	Surry		1,462		43.38%		1,875		55.64%		33		0.98%		-413		-12.26%		3,370
	Sussex		2,183		46.14%		2,408		50.90%		140		2.96%		-225		-4.76%		4,731
	Tazewell		9,645		53.89%		8,014		44.78%		237		1.32%		1,631		9.11%		17,896
	Virginia Beach		72,571		74.36%		24,703		25.31%		320		0.33%		47,868		49.05%		97,594
	Warren		5,016		65.73%		2,551		33.43%		64		0.84%		2,465		32.30%		7,631
	Washington		12,132		68.06%		5,573		31.26%		121		0.68%		6,559		36.80%		17,826
	Waynesboro		4,465		73.45%		1,579		25.97%		35		0.58%		2,886		47.48%		6,079
	Westmoreland		3,219		56.84%		2,363		41.73%		81		1.43%		856		15.11%		5,663
	Williamsburg		1,913		56.23%		1,469		43.18%		20		0.59%		444		13.05%		3,402
	Winchester		5,055		70.68%		2,064		28.86%		33		0.46%		2,991		41.82%		7,152
	Wise		7,909		51.36%		7,303		47.43%		187		1.21%		606		3.93%		15,399
	Wythe		6,773		68.65%		2,996		30.37%		97		0.98%		3,777		38.28%		9,866
	York		10,214		71.24%		4,063		28.34%		60		0.42%		6,151		42.90%		14,337
Totals	1,337,078	62.29%	796,250	37.09%	13,307	0.62%	540,828	25.20%	2,146,635

Counties and independent cities that flipped from Republican to Democratic

• Arlington
• Alexandria

Counties and independent cities that flipped from Democratic to Republican

• Alleghany
• Bath
• Buckingham
• Craig
• Dinwiddie
• Franklin
• Giles
• Henry
• Isle of Wight
• King and Queen
• Lee
• Lousia
• Nelson
• Northampton
• Pulaski
• Southampton
• Wise
• Bedford
• Buena Vista
• Clifton Forge
• Covington
• Franklin
• Hampton
• Lexington
• Radford
• Roanoke
• Suffolk

Results by congressional district

All 10 congressional districts, including four that elected Democrats, voted for Reagan.^[4]

District	Reagan	Mondale	Representative
		62%	37%		Herbert H. Bateman
		63%	37%		G. William Whitehurst
		65%	35%		Thomas J. Bliley Jr.
		56%	43%		Norman Sisisky
		66%	34%		Dan Daniel
		66%	34%		Jim Olin
	69%	31%		J. Kenneth Robinson
			D. French Slaughter Jr.
		61%	38%		Stanford Parris
		58%	41%		Rick Boucher
		59%	41%		Frank Wolf

See also

• Presidency of Ronald Reagan

Works cited

• Book: Black . Earl . Earl Black (political scientist) . Black . Merle . Merle Black . The Vital South: How Presidents Are Elected . . 1992 . 0674941306.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Virginia Elections Database » 1984 President General Election. 2021-01-14. Virginia Elections Database. en-US.
2. Web site: The Political Graveyard: Arlington County, Va.. 2021-01-14. politicalgraveyard.com.
3. Web site: Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election of November 6, 1984 . Clerk of the House of Representatives . 60.
4. Web site: Official election results.