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This is the 1981 race. The latest: 2025 →

1981Final resultsIncumbent defeated

1981 election for Virginia House District 51

Virginia House of Delegates · Virginia

Vivian Watts (D), Robert E. Harris (R) and James E. Dillard (R) won the district's 3 seats.

3 seats
Vivian WattsDemocrat · winner
19.4%23,512
Robert E. HarrisRepublican · winner · incumbent
19.1%23,148
James E. DillardRepublican · winner · incumbent
19.0%23,119
M. J. HershmanDemocrat
16.2%19,660
Lawrence D. PrattRepublican · incumbent
15.9%19,307
V. L. Lee Strang Jr.Democrat
10.4%12,658
121,408 votes

Source: Harvard Dataverse / Carl KlarnerUpdated Sep 30, 2026, 7:29 AM ET

The seat over time

D − R margin in this seat's races around 1981

The seat's recent races

EvenD+28.01977D+20.71979R+8.11981

Source: Past results: 99chambers results archive (MEDSL, Klarner, state election offices)

The candidates

Vivian Watts (D)Robert E. Harris (R)James E. Dillard (R)M. J. Hershman (D)Lawrence D. Pratt (R)V. L. Lee Strang Jr. (D)