There are over 3,000 counties in the US but only a few will matter in November’s Presidential election. Politico has chosen 25 battleground counties that may well decide the election. Two of those counties are in Virginia, Henrico and Loudoun.
Henrico county, a suburb of Richmond, has 216,082 registered voters. In the past Henrico was reliably Republican until 2008 when the county voted for Obama. In 2012 the county went for Obama over Romney, 55% to 43%. Like Loudoun the county has become more diverse with more Asians and Hispanics. Tim Kaine was Mayor of Richmond so he may have some impact on voting in Henrico. More on Henrico’s demographics here.
Loudoun county is both the richest county in the nation and the fastest growing. The population is over 375,000 with 230,236 registered voters. Like Henrico, Loudoun had been reliably red but that changed when Obama won in 2008 and in 2012 when he won Loudoun 52% to 47%. The number of minorities has increased in Loudoun with whites being just under 70%, African Americans 7.9%, Asians 18.0%, and Hispanics 13.6%. More on Loudoun’s demographics here.
As Loudoun and Henrico go, so goes Virginia and so goes the nation.
More on the 25 key battleground counties here.
