Republican Del. David E. Yancey won a random drawing Thursday to break a tie in a critical House of Delegates election, putting Republicans on track to keep a 51-49 majority and avoid a power-sharing deal with Democrats.
In front of a packed room at the Capitol and a live TV audience via C-SPAN, State Board of Elections Chairman James Alcorn drew a film canister from a bowl and pulled out a strip of paper with Yancey’s name on it.
Yancey’s Democratic challenger in the Newport News-based 94th District, Shelly Simonds, sat stoically in the front row with her husband and daughter as she learned the shake of the bowl hadn’t gone in her favor. The elections board pulled a second canister and revealed Simonds’ name to assure the audience there had been no skullduggery in the bowl.
