Actually, that's not entirely accurate. Many of the delegates who are elected won't be new. And in close to half of the house races, voter's won't have much of a choice.
Eighty-seven of the 100 house races feature incumbent candidates, 42 of whom are running unopposed. Of all the races, 45 have only one candidate on the ballot.
Virginia House of Delegates 2013
Candidate Parties in District Races
* = Incumbent candidate
Candidate Parties in District Races
* = Incumbent candidate
In 2010, Virginia redrew district lines for the House of Delegates. Like the congressional redistricting process at the national level, Virginia's redistricting was based on Census results and intended to divide the state into districts of roughly equal population.
How did redistricting affect the competitiveness of Delegates races?
In 2009, before redistricting, 54 of 100 races included candidates from both major parties, and nine of those also featured at least one third-party candidate. In 30 races, major party candidates ran unopposed.
In 2011, the first House of Delegates election after redistricting, the number of races with candidates from both major parties fell to 27 — half of what it was two years before. Forty-three races saw Republican candidates running unopposed, up from 21 in 2009. Democratic candidates ran unopposed in 20 races, up from nine in 2009.
This year's elections will be more competitive, on the whole, than in 2011, but there are still more one-sided races than before redistricting. Forty-three races have both Republican and Democratic candidates, and seven of those also include third-party candidates. Republicans are running unopposed in 29 races, and Democrats are unopposed in 16.
The 2010 redistricting process also redrew lines for the state Senate districts. State senate elections won't be held again until 2015, but so far redistricting has offered mixed results in terms of competitiveness in the Virginia Senate.
In the 40 senate districts, the number of races with candidates from both major parties increased from 16 in 2007 to 24 in 2011. At the same time, the number of unopposed Democratic candidates fell from nine to three, while the number of unopposed Republicans increased from eight to 11.
The Virginia Public Access Project has some great information on the 2010 redistricting process, including maps and lists of precincts that changed districts between the 2009 and 2011 elections.
Data Sources: Virginia State Board of Elections, Election Results
Chart Tools: Google, Adobe Illustrator
