The Republican Party made a clean sweep of the Herndon and Oak Hill area when it came to state delegate elections Nov. 3.

Currently, a Democrat and a Republican represent the Herndon and Oak Hill communities in the Virginia House of Delegates. But starting in January, members of the Grand Old Party will hold all both local seats thanks to this month’s election.

Incumbent Del. Tom Rust (R-86) won his district over Loudoun County supervisor Stevens Miller, 53.83 percent to 45.99 percent. And Republican Barbara Comstock won the 34th delegate seat over Democratic incumbent Margi Vanderhye by a narrow victory of 50.79 percent to 49.09 percent.



RUST WAS thought to be one of the most vulnerable Republican incumbents in the entire state this year. His Democratic opponent, Stevens Miller, is already an elected official and had more name recognition than Jay Donahue, the Democrat Rust faced in 2007.

The 86th district has also overwhelmingly favored Democratic candidates in statewide races over the last five years, supporting Gov. Tim Kaine with 58 percent of the vote in 2005 and President Barack Obama with 62 percent of the vote in 2008.

Rust’s seat includes the Town of Herndon, most of Oak Hill and parts of Sterling in Loudoun County. Approximately 70 percent of Rust’s constituents are Fairfax County residents and 30 percent are Loudoun County residents.

In this election, Rust, who was involved in local Herndon town government for more than two decades, widened his margin of victory by about two percentage points over 2007. In the Fairfax County portion of his district, he has increased his share of the votes from about 51 percent to 53 percent since two years ago.



THE 34TH DISTRICT primarily covers McLean and Great Falls but also includes two Herndon precincts, Sugarland and Clearview. Comstock beat Vanderhye in Sugarland pretty handedly, with about 53.54 percent of the vote to the Democrat’s 46.37 percent of the vote. But Comstock on won the Clearview precinct by a margin of 12 ballots, with 891 votes to Vanderhye’s 879.

In her 2007 race, Vanderhye beat her Republican opponent Dave Hunt by 40 votes in Clearview, 670 ballots to 630. The Democrat also won Sugarland by about 38 votes two years ago, 432 ballots to Hunt’s 394.