Prince William County Democrats could breathe a sigh of relief Tuesday after their three incumbent state senators all won re-election.

However, Sen.-elect Dick Black (R) gave the GOP some oomph of its own as he topped Iraq war veteran Shawn Mitchell (D) in the 13th state Senate district, which runs through the northern most part of the county and into Loudoun.

The former delegate, known as a socially conservative firebrand, won the open seat by a larger margin than any of the Senate incumbents running elsewhere in the county.

Black, a Vietnam fighter pilot who moved to Ashburn prior to entering the race, won 57-43 percent overall. He captured 61 percent of the vote in Prince William County after winning 12 out of 16 precincts.

Depending on the result of a likely recount challenge in state Sen. Edd Houck's (D-17th) Spotsylvania-area seat, where GOP challenger Bryce Reeves clung to an 86-vote lead on Tuesday night, Black could either be in a power-sharing majority in the state Senate or part of the minority.

Only one incumbent other than Houck posted a lost on November 8: state Sen. Roscoe Reynolds (D-20th), who fell to state Sen. Bill Stanley (R) in Southside by less than 700 votes.

Meanwhile back home, state Sen. Chuck Colgan (D-29th) secured a tenth four-year term in the upper chamber of the legislature.

He beat back a challenge from Bristow resident Tom Gordy (R) 55-45 percent. The president pro tempore of the state Senate won majorities in each locality within the district, including Manassas Park, Manassas and Prince William.

Gordy performed best in the western part of the county precincts. He won the precincts of Nokesville, Victory, Piney Branch and Buckland Mills along with the Manassas precincts of Ellis, Buckhall and Signal Hill.

Yet Colgan racked up overwhelming double-digit victories in most of the eastern precincts. He won some areas near Dale City and Neabsco by better-than two-to-one margins.

To the west, state Sen. Richard Stuart (R) ran unopposed in a district that also includes parts of Spotsylvania, Stafford, King George and Westmoreland counties.

On the eastern side of Prince William, freshman state Sen. George Barker (D-39th) edged out Clifton attorney Miller Baker (R) 53-47 percent.

Barker lost Prince William by 6 percent but took a 51 percent majority of the Fairfax County precincts in the district.

His key to victory though was Alexandria, where he won the city's seven precincts by a 71-29 percent margin.

Alexandria is a new addition to Barker's district. He drew the Democratic-friendly area into his district while engineering the state Senate map that the majority Democrats passed through the upper chamber, had rubber-stamped by the GOP-controlled House of Delegates and signed into law by Gov. Bob McDonnell (R).

Barker was in charge of redistricting this year for the state Senate.

In the southeastern part of the county, long-time incumbent state Sen. Toddy Puller (D) withstood a challenge from former Del. Jeff Frederick (R), who also briefly served as the chairman of the Virginia Republican Party.

Puller won 55-45 percent. Her new district includes the most eastern parts of Fairfax and Prince William counties as well as five precincts in Stafford County.

House of Delegates

The races for the state legislature's lower chamber provided one near shock and a series of otherwise uneventful races in Prince William as the favorites won overwhelmingly in seven out of eight electoral contests.

That meant bad news for Democrats as the Republicans now control seven out of eight state House seats from Prince William.

Currently, the GOP only claims four out of five. Del. Luke Torian (D-52nd) is the lone Democrat.

David Ramadan's (R) victory over Mike Kondratick (D) may be headed to a recount after the Republican secured only a 50-vote, 0.48 percent margin of victory.

Ramadan won Prince William's three precincts by 18 percent but lost a majority of Loudoun County to Kondratick.

Meanwhile, the western part of the county's newest Dels. Rich Anderson (R-51st) and Jackson Miller (R-50th) ran unopposed.

Republicans with Democratic challengers ran into little opposition in the voters' booths overall on Tuesday in Prince William.

Del. Bob Marshall (R-13th) won a tenth two-year term, taking out Heritage Hunt resident Carl Genthner (D) by a little over 19 percentage points

Slightly to the west and south, Del. Scott Lingamfelter (R-31st) posted a 17-point victory over Roy Coffey (D) and Del. Tim Hugo (R-40th) in Gainesville and eastern Fairfax County brushed off a lowly-funded independent challenge from Dianne Blais by a nearly three-to-one margin.

On the county's southern end along the Stafford border, Mark Dudenhefer (R) handily took care of Esteban Garces (D) 56-44 percent.

Overall

If the unofficial results from Tuesday are certified accurate, then the 40-seat state Senate will have a 20-20 power-split with Lieutenant Gov. Bill Bolling (R) in charge of casting the deciding vote.

Meanwhile, the 100-seat House Republicans' advantage likely climbed back up to around a two-to-one margin. Numbers were still unsettled through the night on Tuesday.