[riverdawg]

"Twenty years ago, Northern Va was considered the GOP part of the state."

I grew up in SE Virginia, and lived in Northern Virginia twice - in the mid 70s and in the early 80's. Also lived in the Charlottesville area twice (late 60s/early 70s and late 70s to mid 80s). I always considered Northern Virginia to be much more liberal and Democrat than most of the rest of the state (excepting inner-city Richmond and Portsmouth). I attributed Northern Virginia's political leanings to the presence of a large number of federal employees who voted their self interest (big government) over personal ideology.

[MplsSteve]

I hear what you're saying.

I was going off maps of where Virginia's legislators were 20 years ago.

They seemed to predominate in NoVa - with the exception of Arlington and Alexandria. They also had a presence in the Tidewater too.

However, in terms of ideology, there were a fair number of Southside Democrats who were just as conservative (if not more so) than some of the Republicans elected in NoVa.