The 2020 United States Senate election in Virginia was held on November 3, 2020, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the Commonwealth of Virginia, concurrently with the 2020 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives, and various state and local elections. Incumbent Democratic senator Mark Warner won reelection to a third term against Republican nominee Daniel Gade.
Of Virginia's 20 most populous counties and independent cities, Warner won 18, losing only Hanover and Spotsylvania.
Incumbent Senator Mark Warner first won election in 2008 getting 65% of the vote over former Governor Jim Gilmore. In 2014, during the Tea Party movement, and declining voter turnout, Senator Warner won re-election by a margin of 0.8% against former chair of the Republican National Committee Ed Gillespie.
Seven Republicans declared that they would compete in the race, but only three made the threshold of 3,500 signatures. The original signature threshold was 10,000 signatures, but was lowered to 3,500 following a suit by Omari Faulkner. The primary was on June 23.
Virginia's 2020 Senate election was widely considered to be a safe hold for Mark Warner, as pre-election polling showed a massive lead for Warner. Warner's razor-thin victory over Ed Gillespie six years earlier was considered to be a fluke owing to lowered turnout and complacency. On election day, Warner was declared the winner as soon as polls closed based on exit polling alone. The higher turnout is attributable to this election being held concurrently with the presidential election. Warner also notably outperformed Biden in the state, although narrowly.
Warner's victory was largely drawn from the DC Metropolitan area in north Virginia. This is the area that has shifted Virginia from a Republican stronghold in the early 2000s to a Democratic stronghold.
Graphical summary<br />
with Mark Warner and Generic Republican<br />
with Generic Democrat and Generic Republican<br />
Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic
Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican
Warner won seven of 11 congressional districts.
Official campaign websites