183 votes. That was the margin of victory which put Republican Chris Obenshain ahead of Democratic Lily Franklin in the race for the 41st Virginia House of Delegates district in 2023. It was the closest race for an open seat in the House of Delegates that year. The only race closer was between Republican incumbent Kim Taylor and Democratic challenger Kimberly Pope Adams in the Southside’s 82nd district, with a margin of 78 votes.
The 41st district contains parts of Montgomery and Roanoke counties, including the Town of Blacksburg in its entirety, including Virginia Tech’s on and off-campus students.
76.2 percent of voters in Blacksburg chose Franklin, whereas 62.4 percent of voters in the mainly rural remainder of the district chose Obenshain. On Virginia Tech’s campus, which contains three precincts (A-3, E-3, and F-3), 284 students voted for Franklin and 52 voted for Obenshain. All three precincts are at Squires Student Center, a staple of campus life.
Without these on-campus votes, Obenshain would have had a larger margin of victory: 415 votes. Early votes favored Franklin over Obenshain by a margin of 2,003 to 1,724, and provisional ballots broke for Franklin 742 to 130. While town and gown demographic breakdowns for these methods are unavailable, one can safely assume that Virginia Tech students accounted for a significant portion of ballots cast these ways.
The role of students in the narrow margin of this and other elections further down the ballot was such that Lindsay Rich, a Republican school board candidate for District E, claimed on Facebook that “[s]ans VT students we actually won this race!” She lost to Democratic Derek Rountree by a margin of 102 votes. Without votes from on-campus precinct E-3, his margin of victory would have dropped to 43.
This year, in preparation for the slate of elections this fall, including an Obenshain–Franklin rematch, Virginia Tech’s partisan clubs and national organizers have been campaigning and mobilizing on campus and within the community. Each side aims to turn out voters in a race where every vote will count.
The Campus Campaigns
Aiding the Obenshain campaign on campus are the College Republicans, led by president Jack Medler, who have been door-knocking, tailgating, and tabling to the end of securing a second term for the freshman Delegate.
“He’s doing a great job so far and we hope that he can continue to do a great job,” Medler said. “There are also several other areas where he struggled with last election, so his team has made a larger effort to reach out to them and get them to hear him out, hear out his policies.”
To Medler, Obenshain’s appeal to students lies in his promise to help make life more affordable by, among other things, axing the grocery tax, but also in his opposition to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
“To a lot of people, they do see it as a form of discrimination against white people, and even a lot of the Asian people as well, and really just anyone, regardless of race, sexuality, other immutable characteristics,” he said. “If they don’t agree with 100% of DEI, they’re labeled as traitors, -ists, -phobes, every name in the book.”
Obenshain and members of the College Republicans were present at Turning Point USA’s This Is The Turning Point tour stop at Virginia Tech on Wednesday, September 24, which featured Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin and conservative political commentator Megyn Kelly. With so many eyes on the largest conservative political event on Virginia Tech’s campus in recent memory, the College Republicans used it as an opportunity to get students registered to vote – “over a hundred signatures,” per Medler.
We decided to check with the Montgomery County registrar about the accuracy of that number, however, and according to her there’s no merit to this brag. When asked about how many total voter registration applications they were given between September 24th and October 1st, the registrar said only “a handful,” and that the College Republicans never brought any. Chris Obenshain’s campaign, however, did bring 6 in that timeframe. For online registrations, there was never one day where there was over 60 registrations in Montgomery. Most of the voter registrations given to the registrar were from Democratic groups such as Franklin’s campaign and NextGen.
“I think it’s very important just for students to be participants in the voting process, in the democratic process in general,” College Republicans events chair Monica Rudolph said. “I think a lot of students don’t really care anymore and that that apathy that they have, I think it can make our society go really downhill.”
For Medler, the presence of the College Republicans sends an important message to conservatives on campus and the broader Virginia Tech community.
“It sends a message that we’re no longer afraid of being silenced. I have no idea if this term’s outdated, but we’re not afraid of being canceled,” Medler said. “That we’re unafraid to share our opinions regardless of what some people might call us.”
The Franklin campaign has made student outreach a priority, having worked closely with the Young Democrats at Virginia Tech this semester to host town halls, to table, and to get students registered on campus. For Young Dems co-president Taylor Widdifield, given the closeness of the result in 2023, the organization’s members are now more driven than ever to get Franklin elected.
“I think a lot of the Young Dems specifically are very passionate about this, and this is why you’ll see a lot of the Young Dems not only volunteering, but working on the campaigns, being fellows on the campaigns, and also doing their other duties as Young Dems, helping and volunteering in other places that we need them as well,” Widdifield said. “Because a lot of us remember – I was here in 2023, I volunteered on Lily’s campaign – a lot of us not only feel passionate about it, but some of us feel as though, having a bit of a stake in it almost, being like, ‘we really want to do everything we can.’”
According to Widdifield, many Young Dems are personally invested in the outcome of this race, owing to the personal relationships that they have developed with Franklin over the course of this race.
“When it feels like you have someone in office who genuinely cares about their constituents, especially uplifting student voices at Virginia Tech, who oftentimes do feel as though they’re not listened to or, kind of, sometimes tossed aside, that means a lot,” she said. “That’s going to mean a lot to them.”
Although she couldn’t say exactly how many people the Young Dems were able to register this fall and was advised by the campaigns to stick to publicly available information, she shared that she heard estimates of “over 1500.” Based on voter registration data from Montgomery County, as well as our conversation with the registrar, that tracks.
The Young Dems have also been working alongside progressive organizations with nationwide reach and more resources, like NextGen America. NextGen’s activities at Tech fall under the supervision of Brad Singer, the organization’s regional organizing director for western Virginia.
“NextGen America’s mission is, most fundamentally, to empower young voters to not only engage in elections and be engaged in the electoral process,” Singer said. “But also to mobilize around the issues that matter to them and in support of the candidates that most represent those values.”
According to Singer, the issues that animate students the most are affordability and the perceived overreach of the federal government into higher education under President Donald Trump. In terms of registrations, Singer could not provide an exact number but said that “when it comes to actual conversations, we’re in the tens to thousands.”
NextGen has a few plans in the works, including the foundation of a student-led NextGen Club at Virginia Tech and what Singer called “the big push” around same-day registration, which would involve an Election Day event on the GLC stage, as well as clipboarders across campus to spread awareness. In 2023, NextGen brought free food trucks outside of Squires Student Center on Election Day to promote voting.
One thing Singer has learned over the course of his work here is that many people at Virginia Tech, regardless of their background, feel strongly about the issues, even if they claim that they don’t care.
“Even though people might not know about the local elections or the local candidates because they might have come from out-of-state or they might be a freshman coming in, they all have very strong opinions and they want to make their voices heard.”
What early voters are saying
On Saturday, Oct. 25, the Blacksburg Community Center at 725 Patrick Henry Dr. was open for early voting from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Blacksburg residents and Virginia Tech students alike were greeted by activists from both parties as they went to cast their ballots. According to the Montgomery County Office of Elections, 885 people took advantage of the early voting opportunity – 98.4% of the turnout on the first day of satellite voting last year.
Rebecca Elliff, a junior majoring in water resources, policy and management, voted for Lily Franklin because she was feeling fed up and resonated with the Democrat’s message.
“I’ve been really frustrated with the state of affairs right now locally and nationally,” Elliff said. “So, I heard Lily Franklin speak a few weeks ago and I’m excited about the possibilities that she can bring to us.”
Madeline Goddard, a 70-year-old retiree who voted “straight Democrat” and listed healthcare, the cost of living, and the effects of the Trump administration as her biggest issues, did more than just cast a ballot this fall.
“I am so adamant about my thoughts and beliefs that I actually, for the first time in my 70 years, went out and started knocking door-to-door and campaigning, which is not an easy job to do,” Goddard said.
Connor Eslich, a senior majoring in mechanical engineering, said that the tone of Obenshain’s ads left a bad taste in his mouth and led him to vote for Franklin.
“I’d be watching football and he’d interrupt and just didn’t seem like the person I’d want representing me, personally,” Eslich said. “I don’t know him personally, but that’s just what set me off, at least.”
Riya Yeratha, a senior majoring in business information technology, said that women’s rights and advocacy for minorities was on her mind as she cast her ballot for Franklin.
“I just wish more young people would vote,” Yeratha said. “I’m trying to get my roommates to come out.”
With what is predicted to be another close race in the 41st, excitement is palpable on both sides.
“We’re definitely going to do our best to elect Lily Franklin, and we’re going to continue to do that all the way up until Election Day,” Widdifield said. “I think we put a lot of effort in and I feel pretty confident in the fact that I think it’s going to pay off.”
“We’re going to be here getting people out, registered to vote, telling them about our candidates on November 4,” Medler said. “We’re all really excited for that to happen. I can’t wait for this to be over.”
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 4. There will be another early voting opportunity at the Blacksburg Community Center on Saturday, Nov. 1 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
