Cheating???
Lots of Maryland residents moved to Virginia.
Add to the influx of minorities fueled by mass immigration the many liberal North-easterners who invaded the area around the honey pot called DC. It is no accident that five of the richest counties in America are in the DC Metro area. In 2004 Kerry became the first Dem to win Fairfax County since LBJ did it in 1964. And 20% of VA is black.
I lived 36 years in Fairfax County and watched VA go from a solid red state to a purple state to a solid blue state. I left in 2015. VA will become more and more blue as the population of NoVA grows and the rest of the rural parts of the state decrease. And aging white voters are either dying or moving out to another state to retire. Taxes in NoVA are going up to support a school systems bursting at the seams. The budget for FC public schools was $2.6 billion. The costs of ESOL teachers was over $100 million a year in a school system where close to 100 languages are spoken. In some districts close to 80% of the students are in ESOL.
I was active in local Rep Fairfax County politics. I was a poll watcher and election officer. The GOP is dying in NoVA, which is becoming like SF and LA. Eventually, there will be no Reps in NoVA on the school boards, state legislature, and Congress. The one Rep remaining, Barbara Comstock, might as well be a Dem given her positions on many issues. She is a NeverTrumper.