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Election
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In a startling upset which nearly eclipsed the Wilder victory, Donald S. Beyer Jr. hammered state Sen. Edwina P. “Eddy” Dalton by eight percentage points to become Virginia’s next lieutenant governor. Beyer too mocked pre-election polls which showed the Northern Virginia Volvo dealer trailing Dalton by a minimum of 10 percent.
Beyer captured 54 percent of the votes. Dalton was the first to concede victory at 9:25 p.m.
As expected, incumbent Attorney General Mary Sue Terry slid into re-election, defeating state Sen. Joseph B. Benedetti. Sen. Benedetti, whose wife died of cancer during the campaign, lagged more than 20 points behind Terry throughout the campaign season.
Talk of history echoed through the night, but the historical significance of the election took on a different face as the final votes funneled in to Richmond.
“This is absolutely unprecedented in Virginia,” said well-known political analyst Larry Sabato, speaking live from WWBT, Channel 12 in Richmond.
Voter turnout surpassed the 1985 gubernatorial election by over 400,000 votes, with a total of 1.7 million Virginians turning out to cast their ballots. As Tuesday turned to Wednesday, the percentage points were split down the middle. Wilder led with 888j475 over Coleman’s 881,484 votes.
When asked by what margin did he want to win, Wilder related in his victory speech, “I said whatever it takes to win by.”
Coleman, however, reminded Virginians that the election is not over.
“I want it to be over. Doug Wilder wants it to be over.. . soon it will be over — but not tonight,” Mr. Coleman told his cheering supporters. He called the election results “the greatest comeback of my career. I came up 10 points in three hours,” he added, referring to the
92.8%