By Anita Kumar
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 20, 2008 10:57 AM

RICHMOND, Feb. 20 -- Democrats shaved the Republican majority in the Virginia House of Delegates Tuesday with a one-seat pickup in a special election to fill a vacancy in the Northern Neck.

Albert C. Pollard Jr. (D-Lancaster), 40, reclaimed the 99th District seat he had held from 2000 to 2005 before an unsuccessful bid last year for state Senate. He took 57.6 percent of the vote, according to totals posted at 10 a.m. Wednesday on the Virginia State Board of Elections Web site, defeating Republican Lee Anne Washington in a low-turnout contest to replace former GOP delegate Robert J. Wittman.

Wittman vacated the seat after he was elected in December to succeed the late U.S. representative Jo Ann S. Davis (R), who died in October.

With Pollard's victory, the Democrats now control 45 of the House's 100 seats, continuing a gradual climb in numbers for the party in this decade. There are 53 Republicans and two independents.

The 99th District encompasses King George, Lancaster, Northumberland, Richmond and Westmoreland counties and part of Caroline County.

Democrats narrowly control the state Senate.