1976 United States presidential election in Virginia

The 1976 United States presidential election in Virginia took place on November 2, 1976. All 50 states and the District of Columbia were part of the 1976 United States presidential election. Virginia voters chose twelve electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president of the United States.

Virginia had voted Republican at all but one of the previous six presidential elections, largely due to its large white Washington and Richmond suburbs that received large-scale in-migration from the Northeast, alongside the Shenandoah Valley, being amongst the first traditionally Democratic areas of the former Confederacy to turn Republican at both the presidential level and in federal congressional elections. After the collapse of the Byrd Organization and the expansion of the state's formerly small electorate via the Voting Rights Act, these trends intensified except in the heavily unionised coalfields of Southwest Virginia, where unlike elsewhere in the Confederacy, many newly registered poor whites voted Democratic. The statewide Democratic party was severely divided into conservative, moderate and liberal factions, so that in addition to voting Republican in five of six presidential elections, Virginia's Congressional delegation would gain a Republican majority as early as the 91st Congress, although it was 1970 before significant GOP gains occurred in the state legislature.

It was generally acknowledged that President Nixon offered no support to down-ballot Republican candidates, but the division in the state Democrats was so bad that they did not nominate a candidate for governor in 1973 — with most of the party supporting populist Henry Howell. However, the Democrats did regain a dozen seats in the state legislature in 1975.

Carter did do relatively well in many rural sections of Virginia – for instance he is the solitary Democratic presidential nominee to top forty percent in traditionally arch-Republican Floyd County since Grover Cleveland in 1892. , this is the last occasion a Democratic presidential nominee has carried Amelia County, Bedford County, Botetourt County, Charlotte County, Cumberland County, Fluvanna County, Gloucester County, Goochland County, Grayson County, Halifax County, King George County, New Kent County, Nottoway County, Patrick County, Prince George County, Rappahannock County, Rockbridge County, Scott County, Spotsylvania County, Warren County, Bristol City and Salem City, while Stafford County would not vote for the Democratic nominee again until 2020.

Campaign
During the fall campaign, Virginia was the scene of debates between Carter and Ford in the third week of October. They would have their final debate of the whole campaign at the College of William and Mary.

56% of white voters supported Ford while 40% supported Carter. Virginia was the only southern state to support Ford.

Counties and independent cities that flipped from Republican to Democratic

 * Arlington
 * Accomack
 * Amelia
 * Alleghany
 * Bath
 * Bedford
 * Botetourt
 * Brunswick
 * Buchanan
 * Buckingham
 * Caroline
 * Charlotte
 * Craig
 * Cumberland
 * Dickenson
 * Diwiddie
 * Fluvanna
 * Franklin
 * Giles
 * Gloucester
 * Goochland
 * Grayson
 * Greensville
 * Halifax
 * Henry
 * Isle of Wight
 * King and Queen
 * King George
 * Lee
 * Louisa
 * Nelson
 * New Kent
 * Northampton
 * Nottoway
 * Patrick
 * Prince George
 * Pulaski
 * Rappahannock
 * Rockbridge
 * Russell
 * Scott
 * Smyth
 * Southampton
 * Spotsylvania
 * Stafford
 * Surry
 * Sussex
 * Tazewell
 * Westmoreland
 * Warren County
 * Wise
 * Alexandria
 * Bristol
 * Bedford
 * Buena Vista
 * Charlottesville
 * Chesapeake
 * Clifton Forge
 * Covington
 * Fredericksburg
 * Galax
 * Hampton
 * Martinsville
 * Newport News
 * Norfolk
 * Norton
 * Petersburg
 * Portsmouth
 * Radford
 * Richmond
 * Roanoke
 * Salem
 * Suffolk

Results by congressional district
Ford won 6 of 10 congressional districts. Ford and Carter each won four districts won by the other party.