Republican Travis Hackworth has been elected to the Virginia Senate in a special election to fill the seat of the late state Sen. Ben Chafin, who died in January after contracting COVID-19.
Hackworth, a supervisor in Tazewell County, defeated Democrat Laurie Buchwald in the race for the 38th District seat in southwest Virginia.
Results from the State Board of Elections Tuesday night showed Hackworth with a 3-1 advantage with nearly every precinct reporting.
Democrats currently have a 21 to 18 Senate majority. Republicans were looking to hold on to that seat.
The reliably Republican 38th district stretches from the Virginia-Kentucky border east to Radford.
