Democrats Made It Easier to Vote in Virginia and GOP Still Won, Undermining Trump Claims

Despite former President Donald Trump previously claiming that election reforms pushed through by Virginia's Democratic lawmakers would prevent the GOP from ever winning in the state, Republicans still won big on Election Day this week.

In March 2020, Trump claimed that changes like the ones Democrats made in Virginia would make it so "you'd never have a Republican elected in this country again." The former president and his GOP allies have also pointed to similar election changes in states across the country, falsely claiming these reforms helped Democrats "rig" the 2020 election. Virginia's election results this past week serve to counter those assessments.

The Virginia General Assembly, which is controlled by Democrats, passed multiple pieces of voter legislation that made it easier for Virginians to vote. These included repealing the state's voter ID requirement, making Election Day a state holiday and substantially expanding access to early voting, among other significant reforms.

"Voting is a fundamental right, and these new laws strengthen our democracy by making it easier to cast a ballot, not harder," Governor Ralph Northam, a Democrat, said in April 2020 when he signed some of the changes into law.

Earlier this year, the Virginia General Assembly pushed through more changes. These included eliminating the necessity for a witness to sign a voter's absentee ballot, expanding early in-person voting to Sundays and allowing curbside voting. Some of these reforms are included in voting rights legislation Democrats in Congress are attempting to pass despite near-complete Republican opposition.

In other states where Republicans are in power, like Florida and Texas, state governments have moved to curb access to voting, including making voter ID requirements more stringent and rolling back early voting, among other changes. Republicans have argued that these changes are about making elections more secure, despite the reality that numerous analyses have shown that voter fraud is incredibly rare in U.S. elections.

In Virginia, where Democrats largely pushed through their desired election reforms, Republicans took control of the state's executive branch and knocked Democrats' dominance of the state's House of Delegates. The Democrats' election changes do not appear to have suppressed support for Republican candidates. Voter turnout actually went up substantially in this week's election, reaching the highest level in a Virginia gubernatorial race in more than two decades.

In the governor's race, Republican Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin beat former Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe. Republican Lieutenant Governor-elect Winsome Sears won against Democrat Hala Ayala and Republican Attorney General-elect Jason Miyares defeated Democrat Mark Herring.

Republicans also won at least 50 seats in the Virginia House of Delegates. Depending on pending race results, the GOP looks likely to control the chamber outright when new lawmakers are officially sworn in. Meanwhile, Democrats will only maintain narrow control of the state's Senate.

Newsweek reached out to Trump's press office for comment.