For the first time in 24 years, Virginia voters handed Democrats control of both houses of the General Assembly in Tuesday’s election.

With Democrat Ralph S. Northam holding the governorship, the party now holds all the levers of power.

That appears to virtually ensure passage in the 2020 General Assembly session of a raise in the state’s minimum wage — potentially to $15 an hour; approval of the Equal Rights Amendment for women; and agreement on other long-blocked Democratic priorities, such as restrictions on gun sales and potential bans on guns from public places.

While many races were close, unofficial results show voters enabled Democrats to flip two Republican seats in the state Senate — including one in the Richmond area —to ensure a 21-19 Democratic majority in the upper chamber next year. Additionally, Democrats won six Republican seats to ensure a 55-45 Democratic majority in the House of Delegates.

Among the races that made the difference in the battle for control was the 10th Senate District, where educator Ghazala F. Hashmi gained a 3-1 margin in Richmond precincts to pull off the upset of first-term Republican state Sen. Glen H. Sturtevant.

Dr. Hashmi, who came to the United States from India as a child, saw her win as a victory for progressive-minded people and for immigrants who wonder whether they will be accepted and whether their names will be considered American.

She will be the first Muslim to serve in the Senate.

Meanwhile, in what many viewed as a clear rebuke to Presi- dent Trump and the GOP, voters in Northern Virginia swept out the last Republican delegate in that area, Delegate Timothy D. “Tim” Hugo, chair of the House Republican Caucus, replacing him with Democrat Dan I. Helmer.

Enthused Democratic supporters also appear to have enabled challenger Nancy D. Guy to edge influential Republican Delegate Chris P. Stolle in Virginia Beach and allowed Shelly A. Simonds to come back to thump incumbent Republican Delegate David E. Yancey, who beat Ms. Simonds in a tie-breaker in 2017 in the 94th House District in Newport News.

While figures are not yet available, turnout appears to have been outsized in many areas for an off-year election. One example was the contest in the 68th House District, where 56.5 percent of registered voters turned out to enable incumbent Democrat Dawn M. Adams to pile up huge margins in Richmond and defeat African-American Republican Garrison R. Coward by more than 10 percentage points.

Though given little attention, the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus ranked among the big election winners Tuesday, particularly in House of Delegates races. Four of the candidates the VLBC backed won, with at least two claiming upsets.

The difference was money, said Henrico Delegate Lamont Bagby, chairman of the VLBC, who joined 19 incumbent African- American legislators in the caucus in winning re-election.

“In 2015, we raised $40,000. This time, we raised $400,000 and were able to fully fund our candidates,” Delegate Bagby said. “We’ve come a long way.” The results show that the VLBC, which had 21 members last session, will increase to a record 23 members even after losing an African-American member in the Senate, Delegate Bagby noted.

Sen. Rosalyn R. Dance of Petersburg lost in the Democratic primary in June, while Delegate Matthew James of Portsmouth announced in May he was stepping down to take a job with Gov. Northam’s economic development team.

When the session starts in January, the VLBC will have four state senators, down from the current five, while the VLBC will have 19 House members, up from the previous high of 16.

Delegate Bagby noted that VLBC members will constitute one-third of the House Democratic Caucus.

The four new House members who will join the VLBC include Clinton L. Jenkins, who decisively upset Republican S. Chris Jones, chair of the House Appropriations Committee in the 76th House District in Chesapeake and Suffolk, and Joshua G. Cole of Fredericksburg, who ended the Republican hold on the 28th House District.

The other new VLBC members will be Don L. Scott Jr., who won the 80th House District in the Portsmouth-Norfolk area, to replace Delegate James, and Alex Q. Askew of Virginia Beach, who won the 85th House District.

Two other African-American candidates came close to winning House races: Sheila Bynum-Coleman of Chesterfield County, who lost a tough contest to the current speaker of the House, Republican M. Kirkland “Kirk” Cox of Colonial Heights, in the 66th House District, and Lenard T. Myers II, who fell 1,000 votes short in his bid to unseat Republican incumbent Delegate Barry D. Knight in the 81st House District in Virginia Beach.

The growth in the VLBC is expected to generate more clout.

In addition to having two members competing for the top post of speaker of the House, VLBC members should gain at least three chairmanships of House committees and possibly more, Delegate Bagby said.

He noted that eight-term Delegate Jeion A. Ward of Hampton, five-term Delegate Luke Torian of Prince William County and seven-term Delegate Roslyn C. Tyler of Greensville County are the ranking Democrats on one or more committees and are pretty much guaranteed to become chairs when the Democrats takes control in January.

He noted that three other VLBC members, Richmond Delegate Delores L. McQuinn, Alexandria Delegate Charniele Herring and Roanoke Delegate Sam Rasoul, are currently the No. 2 ranking Democrats on committees and could move up depending on how committee chairmanships are parceled out.

In the Richmond area, results for Democrats were mixed as some Republican incumbents held off Democratic challengers. Two Senate races are instructive in showing that analysts who suggested suburban voters were shifting away from Republicans might have missed the mark when it came to those who already held office.

In the 12th Senate District, Republican incumbent Sen. Siobhan S. Dunnavant held off Democrat Debra H. Rodman, who gave up her delegate seat to mount the challenge. The race ranked among the most expensive in this election cycle.

In the 11th Senate District largely made up Chesterfield County, maverick Republican Sen. Amanda Chase, who was abandoned by the county Republican committee, handily won by 11 percentage points over Democratic challenger Amanda L. Pohl.

Other incumbent winners in the area included Democratic Delegate Lashrecse D. Aird, who defeated a surprisingly strong independent Larry C. Haake III in the 63rd House District, and Republican Roxann L. Robinson, who appears to have eked out a 191-vote vote victory over Democratic challenger Larry V. Barnett in the 27th House District, where more than 30,000 votes were cast.

In other races, Joseph D. “Joe” Morrissey, won in the 16th Senate District, defeating a former aide and independent challenger, Waylin K. Ross. Mr. Morrissey defeated Sen. Rosalyn R. Dance in the June party primary.

Two other Richmond Democratic incumbents, state Senate Jennifer L. McClellan and Delegate Jeffrey M. Bourne, also trounced Libertarian Party challengers to keep their seats. Sen. McClellan, who represents the 9th Senate District, won 80 per- cent of the vote in defeating Mark E. Lewis Jr., while Delegate Bourne received 88 percent of the votes cast in the 71st House District race to defeat Peter J. Wells.