Democrats in Virginia claimed big wins in the Tuesday election, fueled in no small part by big investments from gun control advocates.
The historic blue wave marked the first time Democrats in a generation.
Groups like Brady and Everytown for Gun Safety hailed Virginia鈥檚 election results as a win. A $2.5 million spending blitz by Everytown outspent the by a ratio of eight-to-one, .
While guns and the Second Amendment routinely top voters鈥� priorities in opinion polls, at a Virginia Beach Municipal building in May pushed the issue to the top of many local voters鈥� minds.
Results From The Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019 Election: Democrats flipped key districts in Virginia and took control of both the Senate and the House of Delegates. This map of Virginia shows what party won the election in each of the 100 districts for Virginia鈥檚 House of Delegates.
Luis Melgar / Guns & America
And the state鈥檚 Democratic governor, Ralph Northam, said he would re-introduce gun legislation he first proposed after 12 people were killed in a workplace shooting in
鈥淕etting rid of bump stocks, high volume magazines, red flag laws,鈥� Northam said Wednesday. 鈥淭hese are common-sense pieces of legislation. I will introduce those again in January. And I鈥檓 convinced, with the majority now in the House and the Senate, they鈥檒l become law and because of that, Virginia will be safer.鈥�
Results From The Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019 Election: Democrats flipped key districts in Virginia and took control of both the Senate and the House of Delegates. This map of Virginia shows what party won the election in each of the 40 State Senate districts.
Luis Melgar / Guns & America
According to a Washington Post-Schar School Virginia poll from September, top voters鈥� priorities.
Larry Sabato is a political analyst and director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics.
鈥淪ome of the pre-election polls made it pretty clear that Virginians did prioritize gun control, mainly because of the shootings in Virginia Beach and I鈥檓 sure the after effects of shootings in other states,鈥� said Sabato. 鈥淏ut the Virginia Beach shootings brought it right down to home.鈥�
Sabato said that if gun safety groups want to see another blue wave in next year鈥檚 primary and general elections, they鈥檒l have to make similar investments for Democrats on the national level.
A Nov. 2 poll found that 72% of midterm voters rated gun policy as extremely or very important in this year鈥檚 voting contest.
鈥淚f they really care about getting gun control legislation passed, they have no alternative,鈥� said Sabato. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e got to turn out at the polls in large numbers. And they know what they have to do and who they have to vote for.鈥�
In spite of the polling, out at the polls on Tuesday, several voters in reliably blue Northern Virginia said that gun policy wasn鈥檛 weighing on their mind.
But those same voters did say that it would play a major role in how they would choose to vote in the presidential election next year. Voters like Lori Stueve of Prince William County:
鈥淚 feel like we just need to have some really good gun gun legislation to protect our families and our children,鈥� said Stueve. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the most important thing. Let鈥檚 think about how we can do that in a way that we can all agree. It鈥檚 very simple. Let鈥檚 just do it.鈥�
is a public media reporting project on the role of guns in American life.
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