BERRYVILLE — Shane Boswell’s unsuccessful bid for the House of Delegates might seem anomalous, considering other Democrats swept the top three state races.
Boswell, a Clarke County resident, was defeated in Tuesday’s election by incumbent Delores Oates, a Republican from Warren County who currently holds the 31st District seat.
The district includes all of Clarke and parts of Frederick and Warren counties.
Despite hoping to win the seat, Boswell recognizes that the Northern Shenandoah Valley is a Republican stronghold.
The election “went about as well as I expected,” Boswell admitted, emphasizing that “hope and expectation are two different things.”
Preferring to take a statewide perspective on the election, he believes his party advanced significantly within Virginia’s political scene.
Abigail Spanberger was elected governor, while Ghazala Hashmi was chosen to be lieutenant governor and Jay Jones was elected attorney general. All three Democrats will assume office in January.
“They’re going to stand up for Virginians across the entire commonwealth,” even those who didn’t vote for them, Boswell predicted.
He said that while campaigning door-to-door, voters told him they dislike the divisiveness within modern politics.
And, “they don’t want to think about government,” he said. “They want it to work or get out of the way.”
Boswell, who works as a maintenance and operations program manager for Amazon Web Services, said he campaigned on a platform of “let’s work together” — Republicans and Democrats — to resolve issues.
The victories of Spanberger, Hashmi and Jones, he said, are an affirmation of people’s desire for that, as well as for partisanism to be put aside.
Unofficial election results show Oates received 22,382 votes, which was 60.1% of the total votes cast. Boswell garnered 14,805 votes, or 39.76%. There were 53 write-in votes for other people.
In Clarke County alone, Oates captured 4,284 votes, or 56.77%. Boswell received 3,253 votes, or 43.11%. Nine of the write-in votes were by Clarke residents.
Boswell received the most votes in Clarke County’s Berryville Precinct, besting Oates by 34 there, the unofficial results show.
“I am thrilled” to have received such hometown support, he said. He lives just a couple of miles east of the town.
In Frederick County, Boswell received 6,254 votes, or 41.75%, and Oates garnered 8,715 votes or 58.18%. In Warren County, Boswell got 5,298 votes (36.01%) while Oates received 9,383 (63.77%).
Oates didn’t return a phone message for comment on the election results left with her legislative assistant, Carol Coffelt.
Boswell said he doesn’t feel animosity toward Oates for winning the 31st District race.
“I hope she works hard and is responsible,” he said.
Nevertheless, “I’m going to hold Delores to task,” he asserted, and try to ensure she listens to the political viewpoints of everyone she represents.
Delegates serve two-year terms. Boswell hasn’t decided if he’ll run again in 2027. However, he’s holding onto his campaign signs in case he does, he said, pointing out that he wants to be frugal.
For now, he said, he will provide elected Democratic lawmakers public insight into issues that he heard while campaigning.
“I learned a lot (about issues) … within a context that I didn’t have otherwise,” Boswell said. For example, he learned that economic conditions are hurting more people than might be apparent.
People told him they want to see more funding for Medicare and Medicaid, public schools and programs that ensure children are fed, he said.
Asked to speculate on factors that may have led to his defeat, Boswell said it could be because of how Republicans portray Democrats at the national level.
Democrats are sometimes perceived, for instance, as being too ideological and wanting more government involvement in people’s lives, particularly on economic matters, according to online sources of political information.
He can’t speak for urban politicos, he mentioned.
But at the local and state levels, so-called “rural Democrats …are just neighbors” wanting to help those they know, Boswell said.
And, in doing so, “we don’t mind getting our hands dirty,” he said.
He encourages others to run for political office to uphold the beliefs and values they take to heart.