(The Center Square) – For seven elections, two Virginia counties backed Republicans in the race at the top of their ballots. Tuesday’s unofficial results put both narrowly on the Democratic side.

Accomack and Lancaster counties favored Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Warner after supporting Republicans in every earlier election included in a Virginia Public Access Project comparison dating to 2016.

Elsewhere, changing parties has been more common. Lynchburg and the counties of Essex and Fluvanna have each changed the party they favored three times across the elections examined.

The analysis tracks the top race on each year’s ballot: president, U.S. Senate or governor. Just 22 of Virginia’s 133 cities and counties backed candidates from both major parties during that span.

Accomack and Lancaster supported Donald Trump in all three of his presidential campaigns. They also backed Republicans Ed Gillespie for governor in 2017, Corey Stewart for U.S. Senate in 2018, Glenn Youngkin for governor in 2021 and Winsome Earle-Sears for governor last year.

Their latest results were close.

In Accomack, state results reported Thursday morning showed Warner ahead of Republican Bert Mizusawa by 117 votes, with 6,941 to Mizusawa’s 6,824.

In Lancaster, Virginia Public Access Project’s preliminary figures showed Warner with 50.1% and Mizusawa with 49.8%. Earle-Sears received more than 54% in both counties last year.

Lynchburg’s record shows a different pattern.

The city favored Democrat Joe Biden for president in 2020, then backed Republicans in the next three elections included in the comparison: Youngkin in 2021, Trump in 2024 and Earle-Sears in 2025.

Tuesday’s preliminary results put Lynchburg back on the Democratic side, with Warner receiving 53.2% against Mizusawa’s 46.5%.

Essex and Fluvanna followed the same recent sequence, supporting Youngkin, Trump and Earle-Sears before favoring Warner this year.

Those five localities were the ones Virginia Public Access Project identified as moving from Earle-Sears in last year’s governor’s race to Warner in this year’s Senate race.

Virginia Public Access Project’s 2026 figures reflect results through noon Wednesday. The Accomack vote totals reflect Thursday’s state update. This year’s results have not been certified.

The patterns describe which party’s candidate carried each locality in different elections. They do not show whether individual voters switched parties or what motivated their choices.