1981 Virginia House of Delegates election

Virginia House of Delegates election, 1981

← 1979 November 3, 1981 1982 →

All 100 seats in the Virginia House of Delegates
51 seats needed for a majority
Turnout64.8%[1] Increase
  Majority party Minority party
 
Leader A. L. Philpott Jerry Geisler
Party Democratic Republican
Leader since January 9, 1980 September 11, 1974
Leader's seat 12th 5th
Last election 74 25
Seats won 66 33
Seat change Decrease 8 Increase 8

Speaker before election

A. L. Philpott
Democratic

Elected Speaker

A. L. Philpott
Democratic

The Virginia House of Delegates election of 1981 was held on Tuesday, November 3. Primary elections were held on September 8, 1981.

The districts were established by the Assembly Act of August 11, 1981 (Acts of Assembly, 1981 Special Session, Chapter 5). They were challenged in Federal District Court, which found the map unconstitutional in Cosner v. Dalton. The Court allowed the 1981 elections to proceed under the August 11, 1981 Act, but for a one-year term only. A new general election would thus be held in November 1982, under a new map.

The 50 multi-member districts, electing 100 delegates in total, were as follows (52, without a 31st or 40th district):

District Delegates
1st 2
2nd 2
3rd 2
4th 1
5th 3
6th 2
7th 2
8th 1
9th 2
10th 2
11th 2
12th 2
13th 3
14th 1
15th 2
16th 1
17th 1
18th 1
19th 1
20th 1
21st 2
22nd 3
23rd 3
24th 2
25th 1
26th 1
27th 2
29th 1
30th 1
32nd 4
33rd 4
34th 3
35th 1
36th 2
37th 5
38th 5
39th 2
41st 2
42nd 1
43rd 1
44th 1
45th 2
46th 1
47th 1
48th 3
49th 3
50th 3
51st 3
52nd 3
  1. ^ "Registration/Turnout Statistics". Virginia Department of Elections. Archived from the original on October 18, 2018. Retrieved January 28, 2018.