For Your Consideration

A Tale of Two Cities

Lexington and Buena Vista are only six miles apart and have a lot in common but also major differences.

The population of Lexington in the last census was 7,287 and Buena Vista was p u t at 6,649; however, the cities’ population included students at Virginia Military Institute and Washington and Lee University and Southern Virginia University.

The last census tells us even more about the two cities.

The high student population results in Lexington having a per capita income of only $22,763 compared to $32,082 per capital income for Buena Vista but this is offset by a $42,156 median household income in Buena Vista compared to $66,144 median household income in Lexington.

The younger permanent population of Buena Vista with many just starting work careers, young married, and in service or industrial jobs, explains the difference in household incomes. Lexington has a higher percentage of older residents, including many well-off retirees and more long-time professional people in education, medical or government positions. The large number of banks and financial institutions in Lexington exist because of the higher household incomes.

The residents of Buena Vista’ economy is heavily based on industry and to a smaller degree service and educational services (but both of the latter two are growing with increasing population and the growth of Mountain Gateway College and Southern Virginia University and from the industrial area growth).

Lexington’s economy is largely impacted by VMI and Washington and Lee University and strong and growing service economy and to a lesser degree industrial development. The degree the educational economy has in Lexington can be seen by the number of officials serving on city council to local government boards who have ties to VMI and W&L. Lexington City Council voted to allow those with ties to the two institutions to serve on boards and the city council members with power to vote on issues regarding the two institutions that could otherwise be seen as a conflict of interest. This is especially worth consideration when persons with a tie to institutions who benefit from what the taxpayers of Lexington fund but do not contribute to the property tax base can have in an area with large population of older persons on fixed incomes and small taxable property tax base.

Lexington’s population is confined to a mere 2.5 square miles while Buena Vista has a larger area of 6.4 square miles. This puts much of Lexington’s effective population just beyond the official city limits and into the county tax rolls rather than Lexington tax base.

Buena Vista, with lower property values and more industrial jobs, has been attracting more younger residents and thus has a far greater need for affordable housing than does Lexington. In addition to need, higher density complexes in Buena Vista with more city area (much not developed), would put less strain on traffic and need for local taxpayers to pay for traffic lights and other expenses that will affect Lexington taxpayers. Also, with VMI and W&L taking more and more of the 2.5 square miles off the tax rolls, does it make sense to put more tax burden on the older population, many on fixed incomes in this era of high inflation, to subsidize younger residents, many who will not become permanent residents?

The make-up of the population of both cities is similar with whites making up 80% of the Lexington population and 87% of the Buena Vista population. Blacks make up 5% of the Lexington population and 8% of the Buena Vista population. Hispanic population has increased to 6% of the population in Lexington and to 2% in Buena Vista in recent years.

The changes in economy, population, and other factors have caused a shift in the political history and make-up of the two cities and county. For a long time, Rockbridge County and its cities and towns were predominantly Democrat like the rest of Virginia, but beginning in the 1950s the Republican vote began to increase until the state became more evenly split. In Rockbridge County, the switch has been even more dramatic.

In the 2012 presidential election in the Rockbridge County and towns, Democrats got 40% of the vote and 58% voted Republican; in 2016, only 33 percent voted Democrat and Republicans took 62% of the vote total; and in the 2020 election, Democrats remained at 33 per cent but Republicans jumped to 65%.

This year’s election for the House of Delegates and State Senate showed that the difference in the presidential election trends hold true in the more local state elections between the Democrat and Republican voting.

Rockbridge County got divided in redistricting for delegates but Lexington and Buena Vista both had to choose between delegate candidates Terry Austin, Republican, and Stephanie Clark, Democrat. In Lexington, Clark got 66% or 981 votes to Austin’s 34% or 513 votes. But in Buena Vista, Austin got 68% or 914 votes to Clark getting 31% or 413 votes. Vote totals for Rockbridge County were 66% or 2,880 votes for Austin and 34% or 1,485 for Clark.

The Senate race had Chris Head, Republican, against Jade Harris, Democrat. In Lexington, Harris received 66% or 981 votes and Head received 34% or 508 votes but in Buena Vista Head received 69% or 927 votes to Harris getting 31% or 413 votes. The vote in Rockbridge County was Head 66% or 4,702 to Harris with 34% or 2,335 votes.

Part of Rockbridge County (that did not include Lexington or Buena Vista) decided between Ellen Campbell, Republican, and Randall Wolf, Democrat. In that part of Rockbridge County, Campbell took 67% or 1,071 votes compared to 34 percent or 709 votes for Randall.

The Democrats in recent election have been held to about 33% of the vote outside of Lexington where Republicans have only been able to make small gains. Will the strong Republican trend continue remains to be seen with how the residents vote in 2024 election.

Lexington and Buena Vista are like Virginia’s Twin Cities but clearly, they are not identical twins.

(Note: The figures were rounded to the nearest even percentage using latest voting totals and census information from the U.S. Census Bureau.)