1964 United States presidential election in Virginia

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The 1964 United States presidential election in Virginia was held on November 3, 1964. Virginians voted for 12 electors who chose the president and vice president. Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson won Virginia, receiving all 12 electoral votes, with about 53.5% of the vote to Republican Barry Goldwater’s 46.2%. Johnson’s 558,038 votes compared with Goldwater’s 481,334.

Virginia had long kept Black voters and many poor whites from voting through poll taxes and other barriers, controlled by the Byrd Organization. The 24th Amendment banning the poll tax in federal elections helped more people register, and civil rights efforts increased Black voter registration. Goldwater opposed the Civil Rights Act, while Johnson had signed it earlier in 1964. Most Byrd Democrats backed Johnson in 1964, the first time the Organization had supported a Democratic candidate since 1936.

In voting patterns, some rural Southside counties stayed with Goldwater, but Johnson did better in the Shenandoah Valley, Northern Virginia, and coal regions, helped by increased Black registration. This election marked the last time Virginia voted Democratic in a presidential race until 2008.