(The Center Square) – President-elect Donald Trump made gains in Virginia in his third race for the White House, most notably in deeply blue northern Virginia.
Of urban areas, the only localities where Trump fared better in 2024 than 2020 are Alexandria, Arlington and Fairfax County, according to Virginia Public Access Project data.
Conversely, Vice President Kamala Harris underperformed in each of the commonwealth’s urban localities with populations of at least 90,000. The vice president did worse in urban areas than in suburban and rural areas.
Overall, the Democratic candidate of the incumbent administration underperformed President Joe Biden in urban areas by 11%, whereas the Republican challenger seeking a return to the White House only gained 1% in urban localities.
Trump gained 4% in Alexandria, 6% in Arlington and 3% in Fairfax County, while Harris fared worse by margins by 12% in Alexandria, 10% in Arlington and 13% in Fairfax County.
The vice president had similar losses in urban regions throughout the commonwealth, including Hampton (-11%), Newport News (-13%), Portsmouth (-11%), Richmond (-10%), Roanoke (-7%) and Virginia Beach (-7%).
Despite the president-elect making gains in northern Virginia, he fared worse during this election cycle in other urban spots throughout the commonwealth, including Hampton (-4%), Newport News (-4%), Norfolk (-2%), Portsmouth (-6%), Richmond (-3%) and Roanoke (-2%). Trump’s margin in Virginia Beach was unchanged.
In suburban areas and smaller cities, Trump overperformed by 2% on average, whereas Harris underperformed by 5%. The most dramatic shift was in Manassas Park, where the vice president underperformed by -17%. In contrast, the president-elect gained 11% there.
The vice president’s largest gain in suburban localities was in Williamsburg, where she gained 10%. Trump only gained 1% in the historic colonial town.
Trump’s largest gains in rural areas of the commonwealth, faring on average 4% better, while Harris had a modest loss of 3%.
Despite Harris’ net loss in rural spots, she overperformed Trump in three localities: Goochland (16%), New Kent (20%) and Powhatan (5%). The president-elect also gained in Goochland (14%), New Kent (12%) and Powhatan (4%).
Leading into the election, Trump and Gov. Glenn Youngkin maintained that the commonwealth was in play, hoping to replicate the governor’s victory in 2021. However, Biden beat Trump by 10 points in 2020. Ultimately, Harris defeated Trump by just over 5% (51.8%-46.6%), similar to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s margin of victory over Trump in 2016.
