Villanueva winner of 21st District seat in Va. Beach recount

It’s final. Republican Ron Villanueva is the winner of the 21st House District seat after a recount Monday.    

Villanueva, a city councilman, increased his margin of victory over incumbent Democrat Bobby Mathieson by two votes after all the ballots were rechecked.

In the end, Villanueva received 7,674 votes, and Mathieson got 7,658.

“I feel elated,”  Villanueva said Monday night. “It was exciting to see the process in action.”

Mathieson, who asked for the recount, said his camp was aware going in that a different outcome was unlikely with so many ballots cast electronically and the chances of finding mistakes minimal. But it’s important for democracy that every ballot is counted, Mathieson said.

The recount cost Virginia Beach taxpayers $6,340.

Mathieson said he would not challenge the results.

“It ends today,” he said in a news conference in front of the courthouse steps.

Mathieson, a former police officer and one-term state representative, said he  hasn’t ruled out running for public office again.

“We’ll see what lies ahead,” he said. “Public service is in my DNA.”

Political insiders had always expected the 21st District race  to be close. Mathieson and Villanueva spent $942,653 combined on the election, making it one of the 10 most expensive House races in Virginia this year.

Still, the 16-vote margin  surprised some in a year when Republican candidates swept into state office by wide margins in most of Virginia.

Unlike some of the other Republicans, Councilman Villanueva had a record of votes and decisions that could have affected voters’ decisions, said Gary C. Byler, Villanueva’s attorney for the recount and a state Republican Party official.

“The moral of the story is that every vote counts,” Byler said.

Deirdre Fernandes, (757) 222-5121, deirdre.fernandes@pilotonline.com