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LIVE ELECTION DAY BLOG: Joe Biden beats President Donald Trump in Virginia, updates on other local races

WAVY Web Staff

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — We’ll have live updates on Election Day 2020 all day and night in our live blog.

Stay with WAVY.com for live updates on the race results as they come in.


Live updates below:

1 a.m. — In the VB mayoral race, incumbent Mayor Bobby Dyer is still in the lead, but Jody Wagner has closed the gap with 98 of 101 precincts reporting.

12:50 a.m. — As of 12:50 p.m., Rep. Elaine Luria leads opponent Scott Taylor with 97% precincts reporting in 2nd Congressional District race, according to AP. Luria has 50.7% of the vote, and Taylor has 46.8%.

11:45 p.m. — North Carolina incumbent Sen. Thom Tillis (R) is declaring victory over Cal Cunningham. AP hasn’t called race yet, but Tillis is ahead with 99% of vote counted.

11:40 p.m. — Democrat Bobby Scott wins reelection to U.S. House in Virginia’s 3rd Congressional District, the Associated Press reports.

11:30 p.m. –– WAVY News 10’s Andy Fox reports that Rep. Elaine Luria will not be making a statement on the results of the 2nd Congressional District race because there’s “too much uncertainty.”

11:30 p.m. — With the addition of over 42,000 early and mail-in votes, Shannon Glover is ahead of Danny Meeks now by 7 points in the race for Portsmouth mayor. Results are still not complete.

10:30 p.m. — NBC News also projects Democrats will maintain control of the U.S. House.

10:10 p.m. — NBC News and the Associated Press project current North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper will win reelection.

Read more from the AP here.

9:30 p.m. —

8:45 p.m. — Question 2 on the Virginia ballot was approved. It eliminates property taxes on cars and trucks owned by some disabled veterans. To qualify, those veterans must have be 100% service-connected, total, and permanent disabled. Each veteran would be able to claim one car or truck under the amendment.

Read more here.

8:30 p.m. — An update in the race for Virginia Beach mayor: with over half of precincts reporting in-person votes, current Mayor Bobby Dyer has a solid lead. There are more than 125,000 absentee votes that have yet to be added into the mix.

8:25 p.m. — Some groups are gathered locally awaiting results for races in Hampton Roads, including the Virginia Beach mayoral race.

8:05 p.m. — Republican Robert Wittman wins reelection to U.S. House in Virginia’s 1st Congressional District, according to the Associated Press.

7:40 p.m. –– Democrat Joe Biden has defeated President Donald Trump in Virginia in the race for president. The state contributes 13 votes to the Electoral College.

It takes 270 votes to win the presidency. Trump made noise about carrying Virginia, doing a quick campaign rally at the Newport News airport in September that drew thousands of supporters. Overall, though, the state was not a focus of either campaign.

Republicans last won the presidential election here in 2004, when President George W. Bush defeated challenger John Kerry. While Virginia was considered a swing state as recently as 2012, it has trended sharply toward Democrats over the past decade. Republicans have not won statewide in Virginia since 2009.

It was too early to call Georgia, the battleground state with the earliest poll close time. It’s been a campaign shaped by the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 232,000 Americans, and by Trump’s handling of it. Almost 102 million Americans voted early. All eyes are on battleground states, including Pennsylvania, Florida, Iowa, Georgia and Michigan.

“In this election Virginians chose unity over division and hope over fear by voting decisively for my friend of 40 years Joe Biden and the next Vice President Kamala Harris. After seeing firsthand how President Trump failed to contain this virus, leading to more than 3,500 dead Virginians, our Commonwealth chose a different path forward. We chose real leadership that will protect our health care, build our economy back, and invest in education. I know Joe and I am also confident he will work to fulfill the promise of our democracy that Trump has threatened by expanding voting rights and civil rights for all Americans.

After doing more than 150 events for the Biden-Harris ticket, I have seen how hard Virginians worked to make this victory real, just like we have done every year. Ever since we won the Governor’s office in Virginia seven years ago, we have been a blue state and tonight we proved it once again. But we are not done – the work to keep Virginia blue and deliver on our promises for families, address the health and economic fallout from the pandemic, and create a better education system for our children continues.”

Former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe

“Today, Virginia voters sent a clear message that we are sick and tired of Donald Trump’s chaos and division, and are ready for change. Virginia has made tremendous progress despite Donald Trump’s presidency, expanding Medicaid to over 450,000 Virginians, passing a landmark law to transition to 100% clean energy, and protecting reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights, civil rights, workers rights, and voting rights. Tonight, Virginians sent a clear message that Donald Trump cannot not stand in the way of our progress.

“As we await the final results of the presidential election, Virginians made it clear that we want leaders who will control this pandemic and rebuild the economy to create opportunities for all Virginians. I am proud to have worked with so many grassroots leaders across the Commonwealth in the past months to get-out-the-vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

“When I first
got involved in the Democratic Party of Virginia 30 years ago, we were a reliably red state. Now, Virginia has voted for the Democratic nominee for 4 straight elections. This is a testament to the tireless work of our party leaders, grassroots activists, and
millions of Virginians who put in the hard work to keep Virginia blue in the presidential election for 16 years in a row.”

Sen. Jennifer McClellan
(D-Richmond)

7:04 p.m. — According to the Associated Press, Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia has won a third term to office. Warner defeated Republican challenger Daniel Gade on Tuesday in a low-key race whose outcome was never in doubt. Democrats have not lost a statewide election in Virginia since 2009.

Warner is a former governor and current vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee. He had a massive cash advantage and scared off well-known Republicans from running against him.

The coronavirus pandemic and the presidential contest between Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic former Vice President Joe Biden left little room for voters’ attention. And the highly contagious nature of the disease prevented both candidates from the stumping that defines traditional campaigns.

Sen. Jennifer McClellan released a statement (D-Richmond):

“This election was a referendum on Mark Warner’s leadership in the U.S. Senate – and Virginians responded with resounding approval. During a difficult time in the U.S. Senate, Mark Warner has rolled up his sleeves and tackled the most important issues facing Virginians: from protecting health care coverage for 740,000 Virginians under the Affordable Care Act. to tackling the unique challenges facing the future of our economy, to restoring funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities. And, Mark has protected all Americans’ security through his thoughtful leadership as vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

“I’ve been honored to know Mark Warner for nearly 30 years. When I was a Virginia Young Democrat and he was Chair of the Democratic Party of Virginia, Mark Warner kick-started the turnaround that has led to so much progress over the past 20 years. Virginians are lucky to have Mark Warner serving as our Senior Senator for another 6 years.”

6:30 p.m. — As of 6 p.m., 48,938 people have voted in James City County. That’s 79.55% of registered voters.

6 p.m. — As of a 5 p.m. count, the total voter turnout in Virginia Beach reached nearly 66%. That is what total turnout ended up being for the 2016 election.

5 p.m. — Norfolk dispatch say they received a report of a disturbance and a bomb threat at a polling place Tuesday afternoon.

According to police, the threat turned out to be from a 63-year-old man who was then arrested by the Norfolk Fire Marshall.

Read more here.

2:15 p.m. — North Carolina will delay releasing election results until 8:15 p.m. after four precincts opened late Tuesday morning.

The State Board identified those locations as:

Read more here.

2:20 p.m. — Turnout was slow but steady in Norfolk’s Chrysler Museum precinct. According to the Virginia Public Access Project, the precinct has 4,030 voters and about 58% had voted either in person or by mail before Election Day. The majority of the voters 10 On Your Side talked with favored Joe Biden to replace President Donald Trump, and those in favor of Norfolk having a casino had an edge over casino opponents.

The precinct is located in the Third Congressional District, where Bobby Scott was expected to be re-elected to Congress over John Collick.

2 p.m. — It was relatively quiet at the Phoebus High School polling location in Hampton. Voters said because it hasn’t been busy, they feel very safe coming out to vote.

One voter told 10 On Your Side he saw the long lines for early in-person voting and was happy he didn’t have to wait in a long line Tuesday.

Poll workers said usually they get a large turnout from Hampton University students, but since the school remained virtual this semester, they’re not getting the number of student voters they usually do.

1:55 p.m. — Poll workers in Newport News are handing out goodie bags with hand sanitizer and snacks.

1 p.m. — A food truck in Hampton is giving out free egg rolls at Hampton Public Library until 4 p.m. Voters just have to show their “I voted” sticker.

12 p.m. — There have been no issues reported at any of the Virginia Beach polling locations, according to election officials. In a 10 a.m. briefing, city election officials said 33,000 people had already voted. That’s about 10% of all registered voters.

11:45 a.m. — There have been no major updates in Virginia as of Tuesday morning, and things have mostly gone smoothly with not many long lines, Virginia Election Commissioner Chris Piper said. There were “minor issues,” including voting machines being affected during sanitation in James City County, but they were quickly resolved and there were no interruptions in voting.

Read more from the 11 a.m. update here.

Watch the briefing below

Coming up at 11 a.m. — The Virginia Department of Elections is holding a briefing to give updates on how Election Day is going in the commonwealth. You can watch live above, or at this link.

10 a.m. — Virginia Beach says roughly 30,000 registered voters had voted so far on Election Day as of 9:30 a.m. But that doesn’t taken into account early mail-in and in-person voting.

74,056 voted in-person early, and 48,783 had voted early by mail, which means 155,839 voters, or about half of Virginia Beach’s registered voters, have voted so far in total. In 2016, the turnout was 66%.

Virginia Beach is also reporting no issues at the polls, though there have been 45 minute wait times reported at some locations.

9 a.m. — Virginia Congresswoman Elaine Luria voted Tuesday morning in Norfolk. Her opponent in the Second Congressional District race, former Congressman Scott Taylor, voted in Virginia Beach.

8:25 a.m. — Shorter lines are being reported in Virginia Beach after lines stretched wait times to about an hour when polls opened. Windsor Oaks Elementary was reporting about a 15 minute wait as of 8 a.m. Lines in Norfolk at Ocean View Elementary, Azalea Gardens Middle and the Chrysler Museum of Art were short around 8 a.m.

7:45 a.m. — Polls are already open in Virginia and North Carolina and opening up across the country. Follow live updates nationwide here.

7 a.m. — Long lines are forming, including at Windsor Oaks Elementary in Virginia Beach, but viewers are reporting the lines are moving relatively quick.

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Election Day gallery: https://bit.ly/2HQxG3f

Live updates: https://bit.ly/2HQv9pL

6:35 a.m. — Chopper 10 is flying around multiple polling places in Hampton Roads. Long lines have already formed in several locations in Virginia Beach.

6:30 a.m. — Polls open in North Carolina

6 a.m. — Polls open in Virginia: Lines are growing in Virginia Beach as polls open in Virginia Beach.

5 a.m. — People are already lined up at the Windsor Oaks/Independence precinct in Virginia Beach, Kiahnna Patterson reports. Some people came out as early as 4:30 a.m. Before you head to the polls, check out WAVY’s Voter Guide: https://bit.ly/2TkPOo9

Polls open at 6 in Virginia.

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