President Obama took Virginia, Maryland, and Washington D.C.

President Obama won four more years from Virginians in what was a long, dead-heat, exhausting race not just for the two candidates, but for Virginian voters as well. Barack Obama also received all 10 electoral votes from Maryland and three from Washington DC.

All eyes were on the swing states, including Virginia, one of the key battlegrounds in the presidential race. Virginia carried Obama with its 13 electoral votes in 2008 in a state that has been voting Republican for the last 10 elections. The margin was narrower for Obama this time around, just like in other key states, but it was enough for the President to claim victory.

Virginia also delivered one of the 33 Senate seats up for grabs for the Democrats by electing former Governor Tim Kaine with 51.63 percent of the votes over former Senator George Allen who got 48.18 percent. This was the most expensive senatorial race in country, with an estimated at $84 million spent by the combined campaigns.

Ten minutes after 11 p.m., Allen conceded the elections to Kaine, urging his supporters not to give up fighting for the principles behind his campaign. “It’s not our cause. It’s America’s cause. Stand strong for freedom.”

Maryland re-elected incumbent Senator Ben Cardin with 53.54 percent of the vote, and confirmed a strong Democratic delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives: John Sarbanes, Steny Hoyer, Elijah Cummings, and Chris Van Hollen, among others. Newcomer John Delaney won Maryland District 6 with 58 percent of the ballots cast.

Turnout vote in 2012 looked a lot like 2008 in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington D.C. There were long lines at the polls throughout the day, in very cold, below average temperatures, but people did not give up. Some precincts in DC were slowed by machine problems and equipment malfunctions, but voters in the Capital said they never saw such long lines of people waiting to cast their ballot.

Virginia electorate was bombarded with Get-Out-The-Vote calls from both the Romney and Obama campaigns. Voter frustration and fatigue took over, as appeals poured in from both sides. Maryland volunteers were summoned to call Virginian supporters of the two candidates and remind them to vote.

“I think the victory today all across the country is going to be determined by already decided voters and who gets the most of them out”, Maryland State Senator Ron Young told this Kids Reporter earlier in the day.

Letty Carpenter, one of the Maryland Obama volunteers calling Virginia said, “I developed a real connection with voters when I was familiar with the road they lived on, and it turned out that some of the people I called knew my husband. And that was real rewarding. This is very important because every vote counts.”

Virginia polls closed at 7 p.m., but hundreds of people who got to their voting place before the expiration deadline were still in line waiting to vote close to 10 o’clock in Prince William, Fairfax, Chesapeake and Virginia Beach. Their vote was extremely important to both parties, and the Obama campaign urged people via Twitter to stay in line until they were able to cast their ballot.

Virginia was the second to last state to be called in favor of the President, just before Florida, at 45 minutes past midnight. Governor Romney conceded the elections to President Obama 10 minutes later.

—Kid Reporter Hannah Prensky