Virginia's 56th House of Delegates district includes Louisa County, as well as portions of Goochland, Henrico, and Spotsylvania counties. It has been represented by Republican Peter Farrell since 2012. In 2017, Republicans Graven Craig, Surya Dhakar, George Goodwin, John McGuire, III, Matt C Pinsker, and Jay F Prendergast; and Democrats Melissa Dart and Lizzie Drucker-Basch, are running. The district is so solidly Republican that Democrats had not contested it since 2009, although Democrats do not consider the Republicans' advantage completely insurmountable in 2017.