Virginia's 2nd Senate district

Virginia's 2nd State Senate district
District map before the 2023 election District map from the 2023 election
Senator	Mark Obenshain R – Harrisonburg
Demographics	82%  White 4%  Black 9%  Hispanic 1%  Asian 1% Other
Population (2019)	216,089 [1]
Registered voters	134,912 [2]

Virginia's 2nd Senate district is one of 40 districts in the Senate of Virginia. It has been represented by Republican Mark Obenshain since 2024. ^[3] After the most recent redistricting, three senators were drawn into the same district. Mark Obenshain ran for reelection while Emmett Hanger retired and Creigh Deeds moved to a neighboring district.

Geography

District 2 is located in the rural western area of Virginia, including all of Rockingham County, Page County, Bath County, and Highland County. It also includes the City of Harrisonburg and part of Augusta County. ^[3]

The district is located entirely within Virginia's 6th Congressional District. ^[4]

Recent election results

2023

2023 Virginia Senate election, District 2 ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Kathy Beery	16,398	28.6
	Libertarian	Joshua Huffman	1,108	1.9
	Republican	Mark Obenshain (incumbent)	39,770	69.4
Total votes			57,336	100
	Republican hold

2019

2019 Virginia Senate election, District 2 ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Mamie Locke (incumbent)	36,551	92.8
Total votes			39,390	100
	Democratic hold

2015

2015 Virginia Senate election, District 2 ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Mamie Locke (incumbent)	17,459	100
Total votes			17,459	100
	Democratic hold

2011

2011 Virginia Senate election, District 2 ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Mamie Locke (incumbent)	17,526	65.6
	Republican	Thomas Harmon, IV	9,208	34.4
Total votes			26,734	100
	Democratic hold

Federal and statewide results

Year	Office	Results [7] [8]
2020	President	Biden 72.1–26.1%
2021	Governor	Youngkin 72.0–27.0%	2017	Governor	Northam 72.0–27.0%
2016	President	Clinton 67.9–27.8%
2014	Senate	Warner 68.6–29.6%
2013	Governor	McAuliffe 67.5–27.8%
2012	President	Obama 71.7–27.2%
	Senate	Kaine 71.9–28.1%

Historical results

All election results below took place prior to 2011 redistricting, and thus were under different district lines.

2007

2007 Virginia Senate election, District 2 ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Mamie Locke (incumbent)	12,242	94.1
Total votes			13,014	100
	Democratic hold

2003

2003 Virginia Senate election, District 2 ^[9]

Primary election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Mamie Locke	6,278	48.1
	Democratic	Verbena M. Askew	6,093	46.7
	Democratic	J. E. Graves	679	5.2
Total votes			13,050	100
General election
	Democratic	Mamie Locke	12,784	64.7
	Republican	Phil Bomersheim	4,805	24.3
	Independent	J.B. Hobson	2,116	10.7
Total votes			19,744	100
	Democratic hold

1999

1999 Virginia Senate election, District 2 ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	W. Henry Maxwell (incumbent)	14,545	80.3
	Independent	M. A. Rogers, Sr.	3,475	19.2
Total votes			18,123	100
	Democratic hold

1995

1995 Virginia Senate election, District 2 ^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	W. Henry Maxwell (incumbent)	18,836	99.9
Total votes			18,851	100
	Democratic hold

District officeholders since 1940

Years	Senator, District 2	Counties/Cities in District
1940–1944	Vivian L. Page (D) Ralph Hunter Daughton (D)	City of Norfolk [10]
1944	Ralph Hunter Daughton (D) James Hoge Tyler, III (D)
1945–1948	James Hoge Tyler, III (D) Edward L. Breeden (D)
1948–1952	Edward L. Breeden (D) Robert F. Baldwin (D)
1952–1956
1956–1960
1960–1964
1964–1966
1966–1968	Edward L. Breeden (D) Robert F. Baldwin (D) Henry Howell (D)
1968–1972	Edward L. Breeden (D) Henry Howell (D) [11] Peter K. Babalas (D)
1972–1976	Herbert H. Bateman (D)	City of Newport News (part)
1976–1980	Herbert H. Bateman (R)
1980–1983
1983–1984	Bobby Scott (D)	City of Newport News (part), City of Hampton (part)
1984–1988
1988–1992
1992–1996	W. Henry Maxwell (D)
1996–2000
2000–2004
2004–2008	Mamie Locke (D)	City of Hampton (part), City of Newport News (part), City of Portsmouth (part), City of Suffolk (part)
2008–2012
2012–2016		York County (part), City of Hampton (part), City of Newport News (part), City of Portsmouth (part)
2016–present

References

1. "Census profile: State Senate District 2, VA". Census Reporter.
2. "Registrant Counts by District Type" (PDF). Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Elections. February 1, 2021. Retrieved March 1, 2021.
3. "Redistricting". Mark Obenshain – Virginia Senate. Retrieved November 20, 2024.
4. "Home". www.elections.virginia.gov. Retrieved November 20, 2024.
5. "Virginia State Senate District 2". Ballotpedia. Retrieved June 7, 2025.
6. "Virginia State Senate District 2". Ballotpedia. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
7. "Daily Kos Elections Statewide Results by LD". Daily Kos. Retrieved August 1, 2019.
8. "2020 Presidential by Legislative District & Most Recent Election Result". CNalysis. April 16, 2021. Retrieved June 7, 2021.
9. "Elections Database". Virginia Board of Elections. Retrieved August 1, 2019.
10. Until 1972, District 2 was a multi-member district.
11. Elected to fill unexpired Lieutenant Governor term in 1971