For about 80 years after the Civil War, Virginia was, like most other former Confederate states, reliably Democratic at the presidential level. After the passage of civil rights legislation in the mid-1960s, Virginia turned strongly Republican at the presidential level, being the only former Confederate state to vote for Gerald Ford over Jimmy Carter in 1976. Much of the Republican strength in the state was based in the large and growing
Richmond- and
Washington, D.C.-area suburbs of
Henrico,
Chesterfield, and
Fairfax Counties. This trend would start to change in the 2000s; although Bush was widely expected to carry Virginia and did prevail in the state by over 8 points, this election set the stage for the state to become more competitive on the presidential level in the future. Though the state was uncontested by both campaigns, John Kerry became the first Democrat since
Lyndon B. Johnson in
1964 to carry Fairfax County, long a key Republican stronghold and the most populous county in the state. He was also the first Democrat since
Harry S. Truman in
1948 to carry the independent city of
Danville and
Albermarle County. However, Bush managed to keep the margin in Virginia roughly unchanged with respect to 2000 by making further inroads in rural Virginia, particularly in
Southwest Virginia, a heavily unionized region that had traditionally been one of the Democratic strongholds in the state. Bush became the first Republican to carry
Russell County since 1972 and expanded his margin by over 10 points in
Washington,
Scott,
Wise,
Lee, and
Smyth Counties. These countervailing trends would continue in subsequent elections, with Democrats expanding their support in Fairfax County while Republicans showed increasing support in Appalachian Virginia. == Results ==