(HENRY COUNTY, Va.) — While Virginia is not officially a “battleground state,” consistently electing Democrats for president since 2008, the Republican party shows influence with the election of Republican governor Glenn Youngkin last year. In the southern part of the state, Democratic and Republican party leaders from Martinsville City and Henry County both foresee victory in the 2024 election. 

Martinsville City and Henry County are often lumped together as one entity in various committees, organizations, and advertisements. Politically, however, the two places vote very differently. 

Rural Henry County, the eastmost county in Southwest Virginia, sits on the North Carolina border and has recorded consistent Republican presidential victories since Republican candidate Bob Dole in 1996. 

Wren Williams, a Republican delegate for part of Henry County, watched the debate and is “confident that Virginia is a swing state and that Donald Trump has a good chance of flipping this state red for the first time in decades.” He believes Trump won the debate with his promises to secure the border, fix the economy, and “get our country back on track.”

Martinsville City, an independent and suburban municipality in the middle of Henry County, has showed consistent Democratic victories since Bill Clinton in 1992. 

Ashleigh Pritchard, chair of the Martinsville-Henry County Democratic Committee, argues that Kamala Harris’s performance in the debate will ensure that Virginia votes blue again this year. “Harris was collected, she was calm. She’s really good at speaking and getting across her points,” Pritchard says. She believes that “some of the policies that [Harris] is looking to put into place” will be the driving force for Virginia voters.

Despite its historically close election results, Virginia turned blue in 2008, electing  Barack Obama. That was the first time Virginia saw Democratic results since former  Lyndon B. Johnson’s win in 1964. Virginia has shown Democratic pluralities in every presidential election since then. The Cook Political Report predicts Virginia will be “likely Democratic” again this year.