election results of 2005 governor's race
Source: Raising Kaine (see also State Board of Elections results)
In 2005, candidate Jerry Kilgore won 73% of the vote in his home territory, Scott County, earning 6,016 votes. Kaine won by 60% in Fairfax County - earning 163,644 votes.
Virginia's campaigns for governor are different from the presidential campaigns, where there is an Electroral College and small states get counted separately from large states. In presidential elections, the total popular vote nationwide (50 states plus the District of Columbia) does not determine the victor. In the five statewide races in Virginia (Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, plus two senators in the US Congress), total popular vote does determine the winner. Winning lots of small jurisdictions in Virginia will not result in victory if the opponent wins more votes overall - votes count, not acres...
The political scientists debate the "horse race" issues, the tactics used in the campaigning. In 2005, the debate revolved around ads on religion, immigration, and the death penalty. The cultural geographers look at other facets of the race.
Kaine won the urban areas, including Northern Virginia inside the Beltway and 75% of the incorporated cities. Kaine won all the incorporated cities in the strongly-Republican Shenandoah Valley except for Waynesboro (Independent Russell Potts took 12% of the vote in Winchester, muddling the interpretation of the results there). Where are the cities that Kaine lost? Bristol, Colonial Heights, Emporia, Hopewell, Manassas, Manassas Park, Norton, Poquoson, Salem, Waynesboro... all across the state; not a clear geographic pattern there.
The big story in 2005 was that Kaine won so many of the suburbs surrounding the urban centers. A simple summary of Virginia politics is "most of the rural vote is still solidly Republican, most of the urban centers are solidly Democratic, and the swing votes are mostly in the suburbs." Stephen Farnsworth at Mary Washington University capsulized the demographic change that has been reflected in this election: Prince William is starting to look more like Fairfax and less like Stafford (Democrats happy with election results, Potomac News, November 10, 2005). The Washington Post (A Triumph For Warner, And a Guide For His Party, November 9, 2005) quoted Larry Sabato at the University of Virginia: "The old days of places like Prince William and Loudoun being automatically Republican are over," Sabato said. "Republicans are finding that you need to nominate candidates who can communicate with the suburbs."
Looking for a job where you can apply your cultural geography skills? Compare social statistics of the cities carried by Kaine vs. Kilgore, and compare social characteristics of the cities voting for Democrats vs. adjacent counties voting for Republicans. (Cities tend to have higher concentrations of minorities, but look also at educational attainment, income, and home ownership patterns.) If you have GIS skills and can compare the characteristics of individual precincts, you could become a major asset for a future campaign staff...