Ballotpedia:Who Runs the States, Virginia

Who Runs the States

Main Report Pages

Main Page • Part 1 • Partisanship Infographic • Part 2 • Part 3

Partisanship Results Report (Part 1)

Executive Summary • State Partisanship Analysis • Partisan Control of Governorships • Partisan Control of State Legislatures • Partisan Control of State Senates • Partisan Control of State Houses • State Government Trifectas • Overall Partisan Control: Bright, Medium and Soft States • Changes of Partisan Domination over 22 years • Year-to-Year Changes in State Partisan Control • Trifectas and Presidential Election Patterns • Conclusion • Methodology • Appendix A • Appendix B

State Quality of Life Index (SQLI) Report (Part 2)

Executive Summary • State Quality of Life Index (SQLI) • About the Index • Overall Rankings • Dramatic Changes from 1st Half to 2nd Half • Individual Indicators • Methodology • Appendices

Partisanship and (SQLI) Overlay Report (Part 3)

Introduction • Comparing Partisanship and the State Quality of Life Index (SQLI) Rankings • Description of the data • Trends and correlations • Methodology • Key Values for Fifty-State Regressions • Appendices

Praise or blame is extended to political parties for the economic, educational, health and other quality of life outcomes that result from the policies those parties enact into law. To better understand which political party enjoys power in each of the states, Ballotpedia has analyzed state government control from 1992-2013 using the concept of a "partisan trifecta." A partisan trifecta is defined as when a state's governorship and legislative chambers are controlled by the same political party.

The two major political parties claim that their policies will lead to better outcomes. What does the data show?

At Ballotpedia, we explored these issues in a three-part study, Who Runs the States.

This page takes a specific look at how Virginia performed in the study.

Background about the study

See also: Ballotpedia: Who Runs the States

Part One examines the partisanship of state government from 1992 to 2013. Part Two establishes a State Quality of Life Index (SQLI), aggregating a variety of existing state indices into one measurement. Part Three will overlay the two reports, looking for trends and correlations.

Part 1: Partisanship analysis

Virginia Governor

From 1992 to 2013, in Virginia there were Democratic governors in office for 10 years while there were Republican governors in office for 12 years, including the last four. Virginia was under Republican trifectas for the last two years of the study period.

Across the country, there were 493 years of Democratic governors (44.82%) and 586 years of Republican governors (53.27%) from 1992-2013.

Over the course of the 22-year study, state governments became increasingly more partisan. At the outset of the study period (1992), 18 of the 49 states with partisan legislatures had single-party trifectas and 31 states had divided governments. In 2013, only 13 states have divided governments, while single-party trifectas held sway in 36 states, the most in the 22 years studied.

Virginia Senate

From 1992 to 2013, the Democratic Party was the majority in the Virginia State Senate for eight years while the Republicans were the majority for 12 years.

Across the country, there were 541 Democratic and 517 Republican state senates from 1992 to 2013.

Virginia House of Representatives

From 1992 to 2013, the Democratic Party was the majority in the Virginia State House of Representatives for the first four years while the Republicans were the majority for the last 14 years.

Across the country, there were 577 Democratic and 483 Republican state houses of representatives from 1992 to 2013.

The chart below shows the partisan composition of the Office of the Governor of Virginia, the Virginia State Senate and the Virginia House of Representatives from 1992 to 2013.

Partisan control changes

There were seven partisan control changes in Virginia during the study period. The average number of changes in the 50 states was four, putting Virginia higher than the average.

Part 2: State Quality of Life Index (SQLI)

Virginia’s average ranking over the course of the study period was 9.00, which puts it at 7 in the overall SQLI ranking.

• The year that Virginia had the highest ranking was 2006, in which it ranked 1st.
• The year that Virginia had the lowest ranking was 1997, in which it ranked 26th.
• The index types that Virginia had the highest ranking in were Forbes’ Best State and S&P Credit Rating, in which it ranked 1st.
• The index type that Virginia had the lowest ranking in was Government Employment Share of the Population, in which it ranked 41st.

Virginia SQLI 1992-2012
Index	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
24/7 Wall St Best/Worst Governed States	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	7	8	9
America's Health Rankings	21	20	22	23	22	23	23	19	21	23	22	23	21	23	20	20	21	21	22	23	21
CAFR Debt/GDP	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	22	19	21	20	17	21	22	N/A
Chief Executive Magazine Best and Worst States for Business Survey	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	9	7	9	4	7	4	7	6
CNBC Top States for Business	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	1	2	1	2	1	3
Forbes Best States for Business	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	1	1	1	1	2	2	2
Govt. Employment Share Population	44	44	43	42	41	41	41	41	41	41	41	41	41	40	40	40	40	40	40	40	40
Graduation Rate	29	28	30	30	32	30	18	17	22	19	19	15	15	21	13	18	18	31	29	23	20
Personal Income Per Capita	13	12	11	14	14	14	14	13	12	10	11	9	9	6	8	7	8	6	7	8	8
Poverty Rate	4	4	16	13	31	27	4	11	9	9	16	18	9	6	7	4	14	9	8	11	N/A
Real GDP per capita	15	15	15	15	15	15	14	14	14	9	10	10	11	10	9	12	10	8	9	10	N/A
S&P Credit Rating	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
State Govt. Spending/GDP	3	1	4	5	6	6	8	8	6	6	4	4	4	4	4	4	7	4	3	4	N/A
State & local tax burden	24	22	21	24	24	24	27	30	30	26	26	26	25	27	23	28	26	22	21	N/A	N/A
Tax Freedom Day	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	39
Unemployment Rate	15	12	13	15	12	11	3	2	1	5	8	5	5	4	3	7	8	11	7	9	13
Unfunded Pension Liabilities per capita	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	29	22	20	N/A
Voter Turnout	37	22	22	33	33	50	50	33	33	50	50	30	30	24	24	13	13	40	40	7	7
Well-Being Index	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	17	12	21	15	14

Part 3: Partisanship and SQLI Overlay

The chart below depicts the partisanship of the Virginia state government and the state's SQLI ranking for the years studied. For the SQLI, the states were ranked from 1-50, with 1 being the best and 50 the worst. During the course of the study, Virginia experienced both Democratic and Republican trifectas as well as divided governments. For over half the years of the study, Virginia was ranked in the top-10. This occurred during a Democratic trifecta, Republican trifectas and divided government. Both its highest ranking, finishing 1st in 2006, and its lowest ranking, finishing 26th in 1997, occurred during divided governments.

• SQLI average with Democratic trifecta: 11.00
• SQLI average with Republican trifecta: 7.67
• SQLI average with divided government: 9.00

Chart displaying the partisanship of the Virginia government from 1992-2013 and the State Quality of Life Index (SQLI).

See also

• Ballotpedia:Who runs the states
  • Ballotpedia:Who Runs the States, Part One: State Partisanship
  • Ballotpedia:Who Runs the States, Part Two: State Quality of Life Index (SQLI)
• Governor of Virginia
• Virginia State Senate
• Virginia House of Representatives

Additional information

• ALEC Rich States, Poor States Report

External links

• Full Dataset on Google Docs