Virginians start voting again today.
This time it will count.
Just shy of two months after we finished voting in a special election that the Virginia Supreme Court later ruled was incorrectly placed on the ballot, the polls open again today for early voting in the Aug. 4 primaries.
This was always the plan — sort of. Normally, Virginia holds primaries in June, but they were pushed back to August this year to account for redistricting. What changed is that instead of new congressional districts, we have the same districts we’ve had since the 2022 elections.
It wasn’t that long ago that those of us who follow politics were chattering about the prospect of a 6th District Democratic primary between Beth Macy and Tom Perriello. That was under the new and short-lived 6th District that the court threw out when it said the special election was void because the General Assembly had started the redistricting process too late. Now there is no 6th District primary — Macy has the nomination by default — and Perriello is back in the 5th District.
For Macy, the Supreme Court ruling meant that instead of being in a primary she’d likely lose, she got an uncontested nomination, although in a strongly Republican district now held by Ben Cline.
We’ll be talking about that election-that-legally-never-was for years. For now, it’s best we wipe it from our memory so we can focus on the here and now. Let’s be honest: For political junkies, the primaries in those short-lived, redrawn districts would have been more interesting. We could have had that Macy-Perriello battle in the 6th. We could have had what seemed like a bazillion Democratic candidates competing in the so-called “lobster district.” Those would have been fun to watch. The primaries we have now aren’t quite as compelling from a spectator’s point of view. However, elections aren’t sports, even though we often tend to treat them that way. Elections are supposed to be serious exercises in self-governance.
No matter where you live in Virginia, you can go to our Voter Guide and look up who is on the ballot in your locality — we have separate pages for all 133 localities in the state. We’ve also sent questionnaires to all the candidates on the primary ballot and posted their responses (even those for local elections in Arlington County, Chesterfield County, Harrisonburg and Manassas; not our coverage area, but we do have readers in those places, so here’s a little something just for you). Some candidates haven’t responded; we’ll keep prodding them and will add their responses if they come in. You can decide for yourself how you feel about candidates who don’t answer questions. (The gold standard this year belongs to Lynchburg Republicans. They had a party-run nominating process last month for the city council. All 10 candidates seeking those nominations responded to our questionnaire. Read into this whatever you want.)
Anyway, here’s an overview of what we’re voting on starting today:
A Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate
Democrat Mark Warner is seeking a fourth term. Warner typically shows up in polls as the most popular elected official in Virginia. Only once has he had trouble winning election to the Senate; that was in 2014, when he barely squeaked by over Ed Gillespie in what was a big Republican year. History and polling suggest this will be a Democratic year; midterms typically go against the president’s party. That’s why the Republican field consists of three candidates that most voters have never heard of: Kim Farington, Bert Misuwaza and David Williams. So far, only Misuwaza has answered our Voter Guide questions.
This is the only statewide primary this year, so in some places this will be the only thing on the ballot.
Contested Democratic nominations in the two districts Democrats feel best about
The 2nd District in Hampton Roads has historically been a swing district. Since Democrat Owen Pickett retired after the 2000 election, the district has been represented by seven different members, five Republicans and two Democrats. Scott Rigell lasted the longest — six years — before he retired. Four of those seven members lost reelection, usually after two terms, sometimes just one. Democrats this year would like to make Republican incumbent Jen Kiggans the fifth representative to lose reelection. First, though, they need to pick their own nominee. Elaine Luria, whom Kiggans defeated four years ago, is the best-known and best-funded, but there are three other candidates in the field.
The 1st District in eastern Virginia is another district that Democrats have officially targeted. Republican Rob Wittman has held the seat since a special election in 2007, but political changes have made the district less red over the years — and Democratic Abigail Spanberger carried the localities in the 1st District in last year’s governor’s race. Republicans think that was an anomaly; Democrats think it was a harbinger. We’ll find out in November. First, though, Democrats have to pick a nominee. As in the 2nd District, there’s one candidate who is better-known and better-funded than all the others: Henrico County Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor. It’s a seven-way primary, though. That ought to help Taylor; the field is divided.
Two incumbents draw primary challengers
Both Republican John McGuire in the 5th and Democrat Don Beyer in the 8th have nomination contests.
The dynamics are different. McGuire faces Louisa County real estate agent Melanie Lucero, which appears to be the residual effect of McGuire ousting Bob Good in a primary contest two years ago.
Beyer faces four opponents, who contend that, at 76, he’s been around too long and is no longer in touch with the party’s activist base. Beyer may be well-served by having so many opponents — they split the field.
The different dynamics in these two primaries continue into the fall. The 8th District is Virginia’s most Democratic district, so whoever wins that primary can probably count on being in Congress. By contrast, McGuire likely faces a well-funded and energetic Democratic opponent this fall in the form of Perriello. That assumes Perriello wins his own primary, but he’s got a big advantage in money and name recognition.
If we skip ahead and assume a McGuire-Perriello race this fall, here’s what we see: The 5th is a Republican-leaning district, but Perriello has more money. Democrats think this could be a winnable district in a wave year. We’ll have to see whether it is.
A historic Democratic primary in the 9th District
Objectively speaking, this is the least consequential nomination in the state. Republican Morgan Griffith won reelection two years ago with the highest vote share (72.49%) of any U.S. House member in Virginia. That hasn’t deterred three Democrats from seeking the 9th District nomination. No matter who wins, history will be made. Douglas Crockett would be the party’s first Black nominee in that overwhelmingly white district. Adam Murphy would be the first suburban nominee in that rural-dominated district (he’s from Roanoke County). Joy Powers would be the first nominee from either party to come from east of the Blue Ridge (she’s from Bedford County), a sign of how population changes over the years have forced that district to become geographically bigger. All three have responded to our Voter Guide questionnaire.
Republicans pick challengers in two congressional districts
Republicans already have candidates lined up to run in three of the state’s Democratic-held districts (Edwin Rivera will run against Democrat Bobby Scott in the 3rd District, Tony Sabio will face the winner of the Democratic primary in the 8th District and Arthur Purves will run against Democrat James Walkinshaw in the 11th District). They’re still searching for a candidate in the 4th District to face Democratic incumbent Jennifer McClellan. Meanwhile, there are Republican primaries to pick nominees in the 7th District (to face Democratic incumbent Eugene Vindman) and the 10th District (to face Democratic incumbent Suhas Subramanyam).
Roanoke Democrats pick council candidates
In Roanoke, winning the Democratic nomination has often been tantamount to election. Is that starting to change? We’ll find out in November when we’ll have some well-known independents on the ballot (former mayor David Bowers, former council member Stephanie Moon Reynolds, community leader Kathy Cohen) as well as at least one Republican (Amanda Marko). In the meantime, there’s a Democratic primary to whittle five candidates down to three. The field includes two incumbents: Vivian Sanchez Jones and Peter Volosin. Find their answers on the Roanoke page of our Voter Guide.
Montgomery County Democrats and Republicans pick sheriff’s candidates, but in different ways
Sheriff Hank Partin retired in April, which creates a special election in November to fill the remainder of his term. The two parties are picking their candidates through different methods, so this serves as a good civics lesson.
Montgomery County Republicans will hold a party-run “firehouse primary” on Saturday to pick between two candidates, one of them the interim sheriff. You may have read about Attorney General Jay Jones opening an inquiry into whether the recent firehouse primary that Lynchburg Republicans held was legal (although the party has since nullified the results, likely rendering Jones’ inquiry moot). Here’s the difference between Lynchburg and Montgomery County: State law allows party-run nominating events for special elections, so the Montgomery County Republicans are in the clear. State law has tried to close them off for general election nominations; Lynchburg Republicans were trying to find some daylight around that law but wound up breaking a lot of party rules in the process. Bottom line: If you’re a Republican in Montgomery County, circle Saturday on your calendar.
Montgomery County Democrats are holding a state-run primary Aug. 4 to choose among three candidates.
So far, four of the five Montgomery sheriff’s candidates have answered our Voter Guide. You can find their responses on the Montgomery County page. And check back this weekend: We’ll have results from the Montgomery County Republicans. For all the other races, you can vote now, but you’ll have to wait until Aug. 4 to find out who won. We’ll be here for that, too.
