McAuliffe won by 55,737 votes, a much narrower margin than predicted by polls, leading many to speculate what these results indicate about the upcoming Congressional midterm elections and the 2016 presidential election.

Georgetown University College Democrats President Trevor Tezel (SFS ’15) viewed the race as both an affirmation of Virginia’s increasingly Democratic political slant and a rejection of Cuccinelli’s Tea Party-backed campaign.

“Depending on how the recount in the attorney general race goes, there is the potential that Democrats will have total control over all statewide offices. We may be able to begin discussing Virginia as a politically blue state instead of a swing state,” Tezel said.

Georgetown University College Republicans Communications Manager Tim Rosenberger (COL ’16) disagreed.

“I think this race shows that Virginia still actually has a red tilt. Republicans were coming off a scandal, were underfunded and horribly down in the polls,” Rosenberger said.

While many Republicans are claiming victory for Mark Obenshain as the next Virginia attorney general, Democrats are holding firm in the call for a recount. As of Thursday, Obenshain is ahead of his Democratic opponent Mark Herring by 777 votes.

“[Republicans] managed to retain the statehouse and win the only race that was supposed to be competitive, that of attorney general. Minority and women voters made up huge swathes of this electorate that was still very generous to outgunned Republicans,” Rosenberger said.

During the race, Georgetown students took to Virginia to campaign for both McAuliffe and Cuccinelli.

Alejandro Perez-Reyes (COL ’17), from Charlottesville, Va., touched on his motivations for becoming involved in supporting McAuliffe.

“My father is a pharmacologist at one of the flagship universities in the state, but due to sequester cutbacks in grant funding, his research is suffering. I mention this because I believe that with a McAuliffe win, the state government can refocus on economic issues and make smart investments in education and 21st century jobs,” Perez-Reyes said.

Perez-Reyes, who mainly campaigned in the increasingly Democratic-leaning D.C. suburbs of Fairfax, Loudon and Prince William counties, said the experience of going door-to-door, while largely positive, exposed him to interesting characters.

“I once talked to a man who was lamenting the degradation of the rule of law in America. He went on to tell me, ‘The white man is a dying breed,’” Perez-Reyes said. “Something told me that this one might not be worth the effort to persuade.”