Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News · the strongest Democratic and Republican presidential performances recorded here, measured three ways.
1892–2024 · 34 presidential cycles
Highest vote share
Largest share of the presidential candidate vote cast here.
Democratic
Franklin D. Roosevelt1936
83.1%
59,674 votes · D+66.5
Runner-up · Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1940 · 82.4%
Republican
Richard Nixon1972
64.9%
201,832 votes · R+32.3
Runner-up · Ronald Reagan, 1984 · 59.7%
Most votes
Largest number of votes cast for the party’s presidential nominee here.
Democratic
Joe Biden2020
542,508votes
54.8% of the vote · D+11.5
Runner-up · Kamala Harris, 2024 · 526,267 votes
Republican
Donald Trump2024
447,251votes
45.2% of the vote · D+8.0
Runner-up · Donald Trump, 2020 · 429,054 votes
Best relative to the U.S.
This Place’s margin against the national margin in the same election — positive when it leaned toward the party more than the country did.
Democratic
John W. Davis1924
+75.1pts D vs U.S.
Place D+50.0 · U.S. R+25.2
Runner-up · James M. Cox, 1920 · +74.4 pts
Republican
Richard Nixon1972
+9.1pts R vs U.S.
Place R+32.3 · U.S. R+23.2
Runner-up · George H. W. Bush, 1988 · +8.4 pts
U.S. House elections · 3 House
Senate and governor results are in the Office selector at the top of this page.
U.S. House
On a multi-state Place, each row sums votes cast in the separate U.S. House races held inside the Place that year. It is a geographic vote total, not one contest or a seat tally.
Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News · how this place’s counties split between candidates in each party’s presidential nominating contest, cycle by cycle. A primary is a contest inside one party, so it has no Democratic–Republican margin and is not part of the general-election record above.
Akashic reports votes cast, not delegates awarded. The two can disagree: Clinton led the 2008 national primary popular vote by less than half a point and did not win the nomination.
Primary returns are published at county grain and there is no roll-up above it. Each cell counts how many of this place’s counties a candidate led — a count of records, not a vote total. Who led the place as a whole is not knowable from these returns, because county rows carry a leader and a lead but no per-candidate votes.
Presidential nominating contests in Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News, by party and cycle.
Party
2008
2012
2016
2020
2024
Democratic
Obama24Clinton4275,727 votes · 28 of 28 countiesprimary
○no contest record
Clinton25Sanders3190,271 votes · 28 of 28 countiesprimary
Biden28285,130 votes · 28 of 28 countiesprimary
○no contest record
Republicannot ingested
○no contest record
○no contest record
○no contest record
○no contest record
○no contest record
○no contest record — Akashic holds no result for that party and cycle here. It is not a claim that no contest was held. Telling apart a contest that was cancelled, one that went uncontested, and one simply not yet ingested needs a nominating-contest calendar, which is a separate ingest from results and does not exist yet.
Republican presidential primaries are not yet ingested — the Republican series runs from 1856 and is in scope. The row is kept so its absence is visible: a Democratic-only panel would otherwise read as though no one else held a contest.
Akashic carries 10 states for 2012 and 3 states for 2024. Cycles in which an incumbent president seeks renomination are thin by nature — few states run a contested primary — so a sparse column is politics, not a hole in the record.
County returns carry a leader and a lead over the runner-up, and nothing more. The full candidate field with vote shares is published at state grain — follow a cycle above to the state contest for it.
voter registration
Registered voters
By party of registration, over time
Party registration · 2012D+29.0
vs
Presidential vote · 2024D+8.0
Registration leans Democratic; the presidential vote runs 21 points more Republican than the rolls.
DemocraticRepublicanUnaffiliatedOther parties
† Some years predate full county coverage; a flagged year sums only the counties reporting it.
Voter registration in Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News
Year
Total registered
Democratic
Republican
Unaffiliated
Other
2008 (partial)
133,276
73,203
29,492
30,502
79
2012 (partial)
143,320
73,394
31,809
37,765
352
domestic migration
Who moves in and out
Net domestic migration over time
−1,024 net domestic migration · 2025
20112025
Net −78,167 over 2011–2025 · gain loss
Domestic migration in Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News in Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News: net domestic migration by year
Year
Net domestic migration
2011
−6,462
2012
−7,784
2013
−7,109
2014
−5,144
2015
−9,591
2016
−11,127
2017
−9,302
2018
−4,812
2019
−2,110
2021
+111
2022
−5,931
2023
−3,106
2024
−4,776
2025
−1,024
Home to the world's largest naval station, the Hampton Roads market blends a uniformed-service electorate with a sizable Black voting population, producing competitive margins in federal and statewide races.
Across the recorded series it reached a Democratic high of 70.5 points in 1912 and a Republican high of 32.3 points in 1972. Between 2020 and 2024 the market moved 3.5 points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was 8.0 points.
A population of 2,001,471, a 53% non-Hispanic-white share, and a median household income of $82,776 describe the market. The market's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Raleigh-Durham (Fayetteville) and Richmond-Petersburg.
Akashic
Political twins — media markets
The media markets whose fingerprint — 2000–2024 trajectory, demographics, ancestry, religion — sits closest to this one, and why.
Twin score (0–100) = weighted cosine between tier-standardized fingerprints: presidential margins 2000–2024 with 12-yr trend and elasticity, ACS income, age, education, population and race, top reported ancestries, and religious adherence — chips name the closest-shared dimensions and the widest gap. Re-weight the groups in the twins explorer.
Compare two places, side by side
Twelve curated comparisons line up election history, demographics, and the divergence story for two places at a glance. Browse all comparisons →
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All citations released under CC BY 4.0. Attribution: Akashic Intelligence.
Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News, Virginia. Akashic. https://akashic.app/dma/544/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
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How did Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News, Virginia vote in 2024?
In 2024, Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News, Virginia voted Democratic by 8.0 points (D+8.0), carried by the Democratic candidate. Out of 989,559 votes cast, 526,267 went Democratic and 447,251 went Republican.
When did Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News, Virginia last vote Republican?
The most recent presidential election in which Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News, Virginia voted Republican was 2004.
How many people live in Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News, Virginia?
Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News, Virginia has a population of 2,001,471 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News, Virginia?
Median household income in Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News, Virginia is $82,776 — above the national median of $80,734. The Virginia state median is $72,388.
What is the political history of Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News, Virginia?
Akashic tracks 34 presidential elections in Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News, Virginia from 1892 to 2024. Of those, 26 went Democratic and 8 went Republican.
