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       correction

       A previous version of this article incorrectly stated the vote difference between Del. Kim Taylor (R-Dinwiddie) and Democrat Kimberly Pope Adams was 74 votes. It was 78 votes. The article has been corrected.

       RICHMOND — The race for a Petersburg-area House of Delegates seat is likely to go to a recount after the Republican candidate was declared the victor by 78 votes, but the outcome will not affect the new majority Democrats won in the chamber in the Nov. 7 elections.

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       Del. Kim Taylor (R-Dinwiddie) emerged this week from an automatic state canvassing process with 14,286 votes in House District 82, compared with 14,208 votes for Democrat Kimberly Pope Adams.

       On Thursday night, Adams issued a statement saying she planned to seek a recount.

       Virginia election results 2023

       “The results of this election are far too close for anyone to declare outright victory,” Adams said. “The people of the 82nd House District deserve to know with absolute certainty who is the winner of this race and Virginia law affords them that right. For that reason, I am seeking a recount of the vote.”

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       Under state law, a losing candidate can request a recount if the margin is 1 percent or less. If the margin is a half-percent or less — as it is in this case — the state will pay for the recount.

       But the process will not get underway just yet; a recount can be officially requested only once the State Board of Elections certifies the results, which it is scheduled to do on Dec. 4.

       Taylor, who won the seat in an upset in 2021 under old district boundaries, issued a victory statement Tuesday when the state declared the unofficial results.

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       “The people have spoken, the votes have been counted, and we made history again,” Taylor said. “After a week of canvassing and counting outstanding votes, the Department of Elections concluded what we knew on election night: our campaign won.”

       The Nov. 7 elections gave the Democrats a 51-49 majority in the House, flipping it from Republican control. If a recount reversed the District 82 outcome, it would pad the blue majority by one more seat.

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       Going into the election, the district was considered the most closely divided in the state. An analysis of past voting patterns by the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project rated the district as leaning Republican by half a percentage point — pretty close to the actual outcome.

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       The heavily Black and Democratic city of Petersburg lies at the center of the district, which also stretches east and west into the rural and largely White counties of Dinwiddie, Prince George and Surry.

       Petersburg voted overwhelmingly for Adams, who is Black, giving her about 87 percent of its vote. But the counties all went for Taylor, who is White, and turnout there was much higher. Only about 32 percent of Petersburg voters cast ballots, according to the state Department of Elections, while Dinwiddie hit 50 percent, Prince George hit 44 percent and sparsely populated Surry hit 61 percent turnout.

       A recount would be overseen by a panel of three judges that would convene within seven days of the petition for recount being filed. Local elections officials would then scan the ballots again and review individual ballots that the machines can’t read. The two political parties are allowed to have observers on hand; any ballots the reviewers can’t agree on will be referred to the panel of judges for review.

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       Virginia has had a lively recent history with recounts. In 2017, a Newport News House of Delegates election wound up with Republican David Yancey leading by 10 votes. Democrat Shelly Simonds requested a recount, which initially showed that she, instead, had won by a single vote — an outcome that would have thrown the House into a 50-50 split and forced a rare power-sharing agreement.

       A rare, random drawing helped Republicans win a tied Virginia House race

       But a panel of judges reviewing the results awarded one more vote to Yancey, leaving the race tied. The decision then went to a random drawing. Yancey won, and Republicans enjoyed two more years of a House majority, until the 2019 elections saw Simonds and Democrats win big.

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