Virginia Republican wins pivotal race in random hat drawing

CNN

• Republican David Yancey won a key seat in Virginia's House of Delegates after a recount from last month's statewide elections.
• The result means Republicans will retain their majority in the state's house.

Republican David Yancey prevailed in a pivotal Virginia House of Delegates election after his name was randomly drawn from a bowl by state officials on Thursday morning.

Yancey's tie-breaking victory means Republicans will hold on to their majority in the Virginia statehouse.

This came after a dramatic series of events in which Yancey's Democratic opponent, Shelly Simonds, was initially named the winner of the race last month by a single vote. 

CNN

On December 19, Virginia officials announced that Simonds was found to have won the election over Yancey, the incumbent, with a final tally of 11,608 to 11,607.

That result would have swung the state's House of Delegates to a 50-50 split between Democrats and Republicans.

Even though a three-judge panel had to certify the results, Virginia Republicans conceded that they lost their majority.

"After a close recount it appears the citizens of the 94th District have elected Shelly Simonds to the Virginia House of Delegates, pending confirmation by a three judge panel," Virginia Republican House leadership said in a statement. "We congratulate Delegate-elect Simonds and welcome her to this historic body. We also thank Delegate David Yancey for his distinguished service."

But the following day, chaos erupted again.

The panel of judges decided to count a disputed ballot for Yancey, which pulled him even with Simonds. The voter who filled out the ballot in question had selected the Republican candidate at all other levels, but appeared to fill in two bubbles in the House of Delegates portion - with the bubble next to Simonds' name crossed out.

Watch a video of the drawing below: 

Allan Smith contributed to this report.