1995 VA SD-25 State Senate Election

The 1995 Virginia SD-25 State Senate election, a contest between incumbent GOP Senator Edgar Robb and Charlottesville Board of Education member, Democrat Emily Couric saw Couric win a comfortable 5% victory over the 1991 upset-win incumbent.

Couric's win came, in part, due to the overall outsized impact that George Allen's 1995 Education cuts had in this UVA-centered district—with Edgar Robb's campaign trying to tie Couric to 'failed government in Charlottesville' likewise contributing to his defeat.

The combination of these two factors— in addition to a strong volunteer network—allowed for Couric, a moderate Democrat, to oust the incumbent Republican.

Further, Couric's win came despite the GOP legislative caucus campaining for independent candidate Donal Day, a physics professor at UVA, by sending post-cards to Democrats in an atempt to split the center left vote.

As a consequence of her win, Couric became talked about as a potential Lieutenant Governor nominee for the party in both 1997, and 2001.

However, she ended up not running either time, endorsing 1997 LG Nominee Lewis F. Payne Jr., and forgoing a run in 2001 due to a pancreatic cancer diagnosis that sadly took her life in October of that same year.