Virginia has been projected for Barack Obama, the first time the state has picked a Democrat in the presidential race since 1964, according to the Associated Press and other media networks.

With 92 percent of the precincts reporting, Obama had 51 percent of the vote, a slim win over McCain’s 49 percent.

Obama devoted much of his final week of campaigning to pushing for wins in states like Virginia, which have traditionally gone to Republicans. Some of Obama’s success in the state has been attributed to an influx of professionals to Northern Virginia’s D.C. suburbs, “which has turned it into more of a swing state,” historian Peniel Joseph told the NewsHour.

In contrast with other traditional GOP southern states, both Virginia and North Carolina have urban professionals that have changed the dynamic, Joseph said, reflecting a different south that’s ready for the kind of campaigning Obama carried out.

“Virginia, really the cradle of the confederacy,” Joseph said. “When we think about Virginia going to the first African American candidate, it really speaks to the way in which this realignment is happening.”

Historian Richard Norton Smith agreed the results reflect a fundamental change in how politicians should view the state.

“If Republicans want to take Virginia back, they better stop talking about the ‘real Virginia.’” Norton Smith said.

Mark Shields called Virginia a “Democratic sweep,” as he discussed the Virginia race results with fellow analysts David Brooks on the NewsHour.

Cathy Lewis of WHRO in Hampton Roads, Va., said earlier in the night that she was watching the military vote carefully.

“We have the largest concentration of military installations in the country,” Lewis said. “What I was hearing this time that I had not heard in past election cycles was military people, officers and enlisted people, saying that this time they were not necessarily going to vote for the Republican candidate.”