The outcome of the 2023 General Election was largely positive for Democrats, both locally and across Virginia: All four Democratic incumbents running in Manassas and Manassas Park were re-elected, while Democrats statewide captured both the Virginia House of Delegates and the Virginia Senate, albeit only with the narrowest of one-seat majorities.
In neighboring Prince William County, Democrats won all three state senate seats, six of seven state delegate seats (former Manassas Councilman Ian Lovejoy, who has moved to Bristow, will be the only local GOP delegate, representing HD-22) , and retained their 5-3 majority on the Board of County Supervisors.
Delegate Danica Roem (currently representing HD-13, which includes Manassas Park) defeated her Republican opponent, former police detective Bill Woolf, for the new Senate District 30 seat with 51.76% of the overall vote and a margin of 2259 votes. Danica captured 54.80% of the votes in the City of Manassas, 60.48% of the votes in Manassas Park, and 50.50% of the votes in her 30 Prince William County precincts (a margin of only 591 votes, after winning 18 precincts). District-wide, Danica actually lost the Election Day vote by 593 votes, but she won the in-person Early Votes by 190 votes, Provisional Ballots by 107 votes, and the Mailed Absentee ballots by a decisive 2555 votes (67%-33%)!
Similarly, Delegate Michelle Maldonado (currently representing HD-50, which includes the City of Manassas) defeated her Republican challenger, Sharon Ashurst, for the new House District 20 seat with 56.60% of the overall vote. Michelle captured 56.13% of the votes in the City of Manassas, 61.86% of the votes in Manassas Park, and 53.67% of the votes in her five Prince William County precincts. While Michelle won the total vote in every precinct and also won the Election Day vote district-wide, she actually lost the Election Day vote in the Round, Metz, Haydon, and Parkside Precincts by a total of 116 votes. However, Michelle won the Mailed Absentee ballots decisively by 1038 votes (72%-28%).
Clerk of the Court Jacqueline Smith, a Democratic incumbent without a Republican challenger, defeated independent candidate Hina Ansari with 79.08% of the vote. In doing so, Jackie captured 78.35% of the votes in the City of Manassas, 72.89% of the votes in Manassas Park, and 79.23 % of the votes in Prince William County.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Amy Ashworth, another Democratic incumbent, defeated her Republican challenger, Matt Lowery, with 53.62% of the overall vote. Amy captured 53.33% of the City of Manassas votes, 57.90% of the Manassas Park votes, and 53.53% of the Prince William County votes. Amy narrowly lost the overall vote in the Round precinct by 9 votes but won the overall vote in every other precinct in the Cities of Manassas and Manassas Park.
Regrettably, Democrat Josh King lost his second attempt in four years to unseat our long-time Republican Sheriff, Glen Hill, 46.47% to 53.20%. Similar to the their previous match-up in 2019, Josh under performed in the City of Manassas with only 40.27% of the votes and also in Manassas Park with only 44.08% of the votes, compared to Prince William County with 47.03% of the votes. In our two cities combined, Josh received 2245 fewer votes than Michelle Maldonado did, showing that many of our voters split their ticket between the two major political parties.
As a result of redistricting in December 2021, the election ballots for the Cities of Manassas and Manassas Park were nearly identical for the first time in many years. The only significant difference was that the Manassas Park ballot included a special voter referendum on “pari-mutuel wagering”. Manassas Park voters soundly defeated that referendum, 58.82% to 41.18%.
The importance of motivating Democratic voters to turn out in our “off-off-year” elections and of chasing mailed absentee ballots are both evident from these election results. According to the Virginia Department of Elections, the turnout of registered voters was only 40.89% in the City of Manassas, 36.33% in Manassas Park, and 43.27% in Prince William County (which additionally held elections for all County supervisor and school board seats).
Visit the Virginia Department of Elections website to view the complete 2023 General Election results for the City of Manassas, for the City of Manassas Park, for Prince William County, and for every locality and contest within Virginia.
