By Bridget Manley, publisher
Despite it being the closest election the 34th House District has ever seen, incumbent Tony Wilt looks to be headed for his narrowest victory yet, as he maintains a slight lead in votes over Democratic challenger Andrew Payton.
With Wilt receiving about 52% of the vote, according to unofficial results, it would mark the closest race of Wilt’s political career since he was first elected in a special election in 2010.
Payton, however, is not backing down yet.
Results were too close to call well into the night Tuesday. At the Republican watch party at El Charro on South Main Street, Wilt and his team left quietly without a clarity about the outcome. By 11:25 p.m., Wilt issued a statement to local media declaring victory after new results were posted online—those from the early voting in Rockingham County. Wilt cited the results from the Virginia Public Access Project’s projection of his win as proof.
“The 34th House District race has been called for Delegate Wilt. While we respect the canvassing process and want to ensure every legal vote is counted, we are confident that in the end the final result will hold and Delegate Wilt will be certified as the winner in the race,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, Payton issued a statement to local media early Wednesday, saying: “From day one, we knew this race would come down to the wire—and that’s exactly where we are tonight. As election officials continue counting every ballot, we remain confident in the democratic process and committed to ensuring every vote is counted and every voice is heard.”
Two years ago, Wilt won with 57% of the vote against Democrat Esther Nizer. His closest previous race was in 2019, when he won reelection with 54% of the vote against Democratic challenger Brent Finnegan.
Democrats, buoyed by a strong showing at the top of the ticket by candidate for governor Abigail Spanberger, unseated at least eight incumbent Republican House members on Tuesday and had won 61 seats to Republicans’ 31 with eight more delegate races still without a declared winner.
Rockingham County School Board District 1 is still too close to call
Another local election remains too close to call, and it’s uncertain how long it will take to determine the final results.
Incumbent Jackie Lohr faced challenger Ernest Calhoun for the seat representing the northwest part of Rockingham County, including Broadway, Lacey Spring, Fulks Run, and Timberville, among other areas.
By Wednesday, with all precinct and early voting totals in, Lohr is ahead by just eight votes over Calhoun. Provisional ballots have not yet been counted, and Lohr told The Citizen that she will not comment until all votes are tallied.
Other local election results
Several other elections were held in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County, but candidates ran unopposed.
In Harrisonburg, Karen Rose won 98% of the vote for Commissioner of Revenue, running unopposed, and Jeffrey Shafer garnered almost 98% of the vote, also running unopposed.
In Rockingham County, Dewey Ritchie won the Board of Supervisors seat for District 1, and Matt Dale won his seat for Board of Supervisors District 3. Both ran unopposed.
Dale told The Citizen he was ready to hit the ground running and dig into the budget.
“It’s time to dig deep into the budget,” Dale said. “We are about to have our real estate reassessment come through, and we are going to have to make some decisions about where our revenue is going and how we can bring our taxes down and still provide for the essential services that a growing and thriving county needs.”
Publisher Andrew Jenner contributed to this report.
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