Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks to supporters Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020, in Wilmington, Del., as his wife Jill Biden looks on.(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden wave to supporters, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020, in Wilmington, Del.  Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks to supporters, early Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020, in Wilmington, Del. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya) Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden arrives to speak to supporters, early Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020, in Wilmington, Del., as Jill Biden looks on. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya) Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks to supporters, early Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020, in Wilmington, Del., as Jill Biden looks on. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya) Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden wave to supporters, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020, in Wilmington, Del. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks to supporters Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020, in Wilmington, Del., as he stands next to his wife Jill Biden. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks to supporters Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020, in Wilmington, Del., as his wife Jill Biden looks on.(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) Mel Leonor Former Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday claimed an early victory over President Donald Trump in Virginia, a Southern swing state looking increasingly like a Democratic stronghold. The Associated Press called the contest for the Democratic challenger just after 7:30 p.m., about 30 minutes after polls closed, predicting that Biden would claim Virginia’s 13 electoral college votes. At 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, Biden was ahead by 246,000 votes, leading 52.5% to Trump's 46% with 88% of ballots counted. A vast majority of the uncounted ballots were absentee or early votes, which are expected to favor Democrats. Counting Biden’s victory, Democrats have carried Virginia in four straight presidential elections after Republicans won the state in every presidential contest from 1968 to 2004. Democrats also control the governor’s mansion and the legislature. “Some of us have been around a long time. This used to be a Republican state,” said Virginia Democratic Party Chair Susan Swecker. “It makes me proud of the commonwealth we’ve become and the diverse tapestry we have. Biden and Harris represent that.” Official election results remained inconclusive for much of the night as localities worked to report in-person and absentee ballots cast in advance. While Democrats celebrated Biden’s apparent victory, Republican Party officials in the state said they were not ready to concede, citing the state’s unusual election. Elsewhere in the nation, Tuesday ended with the presidential election still unsettled. Millions of ballots remained uncounted in key battlegrounds like Michigan and Georgia. Virginia had consistently leaned in Biden’s favor in the months leading up to election day, according to public opinion polling. Neither campaign made heavy investments of time or money here, instead chasing votes in nearby battlegrounds like North Carolina and Pennsylvania. Biden did not stump in the state since becoming his party’s presumptive nominee, instead relying on digital and TV advertising, and his network of surrogates. During his bid for his party’s nomination, Biden said the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville ultimately prompted him to run for president. “Virginians chose unity over division and hope over fear by voting decisively for [Biden] and [Kamala Harris],” said former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a prominent Biden surrogate. “The commonwealth is leading the way yet again.” Late Tuesday, GOP Chairman Rich Anderson said Virginia wouldn’t have full results until all absentee and early ballots were counted, which election officials have said will be shortly after midday on Friday. “While the national media has projected that Biden has won Virginia and I know that Democrats have done very well in Virginia in recent years, I am not ready to say he has won Virginia,” Anderson said shortly before 10 p.m., when Trump appeared to lead in Virginia.  The AP said Tuesday that while only about 10% of the vote had been counted statewide when it called the race, “completed counts in a representative selection of precincts in communities across Virginia showed Biden comfortably ahead of Trump.” Anderson and nearly 100 Virginia GOP supporters gathered at Atlas 42 in Henrico County to watch Fox News deliver election results. Fewer than half of those present were wearing masks. Democrats gathered for mostly virtual gatherings. The Democratic Party of Virginia held an election night watch party over Zoom, as the campaigns of Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va. and Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-7th, appeared in person for short press appearances. Biden appeared to benefit from the trove of early and absentee votes — around 2.8 million before Election Day — which accounted for close to half of the state’s registered voters. It was also almost five times the number of early and absentee ballots cast in Virginia in 2016. Democrats in the state chalked up those numbers to an energized “get-out-the-vote” campaign that urged supporters to vote, and vote early. “We know the vast majority of those are our voters. Once all of that is in the system, we know Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will prevail,” Swecker said. Democrats also sought to attract young voters to the ballot box, hoping to boost turnout among that age bracket compared with 2016. Juanasia Bell, 18, was among those voters. She cast an in-person ballot for Biden in her first election in central Chesterfield County, at a precinct that leaned in Trump’s favor in 2016. “I voted for Biden. He just seems more reliable,” Bell said. Among the issues on her mind as she cast her ballot were protections for LGBTQ people and the Black Lives Matter movement. “I don’t like to shade on people. But I don’t think Trump would be the right choice.” Trump held one formal campaign appearance in Virginia, a Sept. 25 airport rally in Newport News during which he vowed to fight for Virginia as polling showed Biden decisively ahead. A year earlier, as top Democrats in Virginia weathered scandals about racism and alleged sexual misconduct, Trump proclaimed Virginia would “come back HOME Republican in 2020!” Trump had sought to animate his base by targeting Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam. During the Newport News rally he called Northam a “crazy governor ... trying to take your guns.” Trump also criticized Northam for his support of stripping restrictions on late-term abortions and the COVID-19 restrictions he levied on the state, saying residents here were “not allowed to go to church, not allowed to go to a restaurant, not allowed to go to a friend’s house.” “Liberate Virginia,” Trump twice urged supporters online. But it was not gun control or COVID-19 rules that Richmond-area voters cited as their main impetus for supporting the president’s re-election. Largely, it was the economy. At Robious Middle School, Teresa Super, 52, voted for Trump. “I feel like before COVID he worked very hard to improve our economic situation. I believe that given the opportunity, he can create jobs for Americans and put us back on a good track.” Javier Rubina, 47, voted at the Central Chesterfield Ruritan Association on Tuesday. An immigrant from Guatemala, he said Trump is “the best president the U.S. has had, in respect to the economy more than anything.” PHOTOS: Election Day 2020 in Richmond A man waits for a city bus outside the polling place at the Powhatan Community Center on Fulton Hill in Richmond, VA Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020. BOB BROWN Ronald Watts sells t-shirts at the corner of Chamberlayne Ave. and Brooklyn Park Blvd. in Richmond, VA Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020. BOB BROWN Voters line the wall at the Powhatan Community Center polling place on Fulton Hill in Richmond, VA Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020. BOB BROWN A voter walks into the Powhatan Community Center polling place on Fulton Hill in Richmond, VA Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020. BOB BROWN Voters mark their ballots inside the gym at Varina High School in eastern Henrico County, VA Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020. BOB BROWN Voters file into the Powhatan Community Center on Fulton Hill in Richmond, VA Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020. BOB BROWN A voting machine screen indicates that a ballot had been counted inside the gym at Varina High School in eastern Henrico County, VA Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020. BOB BROWN An official ballot waits to be marked inside the gym at Varina High School in eastern Henrico County, VA Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020. BOB BROWN Voters enter to cast their ballots inside the gym at Varina High School in eastern Henrico County, VA Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020. BOB BROWN Voters mark their ballots inside the gym at Varina High School in eastern Henrico County, VA Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020. BOB BROWN Voting at Varina High School ROBERT BROWN Voting at Varina High School ROBERT BROWN Voters cast their ballots at Robious Elementary in Chesterfield Daniel Sangjib Min Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-7th, greets voters on Election Day. James Wallace Charles M. Johnson Elementary School in Henrico. James Wallace Voters cast their ballots at Lucille Brown middle school in Richmond. Daniel Sangjib Min People voting at JR Tucker High School in Henrico County Tuesday morning. James Wallace People lined up to vote at JR Tucker High School in Henrico County Tuesday morning. James Wallace mleonor@timesdispatch.com (804) 649-6254 Twitter: @MelLeonor_ 9 comments