This is the 1995 race. The latest: 2025 →

1995Flipped from DemocraticFinal resultsIncumbent defeated

1995 election for Virginia House District 87

Virginia House of Delegates · Virginia

Thelma Sawyers Drake (R) won with 54.8% of the vote, defeating Howard E. Copeland (D) by 9.6 points, flipping a seat Democrats held.

Thelma Sawyers DrakeRepublican · winner
54.8%4,597
Howard E. CopelandDemocrat · incumbent
45.2%3,794
8,391 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 1995

Races before and after

EvenD+4.91993R+9.61995R+30.91997R+31.22001

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