Several U.S. Senate races have captured national attention during the 2026 election season, but Virginia isn’t one of them, at least so far.
The contest between Democratic Sen. Mark Warner and Republican challenger Bert Mizusawa has taken a back seat to political dramas in Texas, Michigan, Maine, South Carolina and a handful of other states.
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Warner and Mizusawa don’t care that they’re flying under the radar. It’s the one thing they have in common.
Warner is the favorite heading into Election Day on Nov. 3. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the Senate seat as solidly Democratic. The former tech entrepreneur and Virginia governor is seeking his fourth term in the Senate and says he won’t run again if elected. He’s been outspoken on the need to rein in the exponential growth of artificial intelligence while recognizing its potential to help the public.
Mizusawa, a retired U.S. Army major general, handily beat two challengers in the GOP primary. He stresses his national security credentials and leadership experience that included command of a task force in Afghanistan, serving as deputy undersecretary of the U.S. Army and a stint on Senate Armed Services Committee staff.
Early voting is now underway.
Mizusawa said the Virginia race is a “sleeper” for now, but he believes Republicans will become energized by what they see as a far-left turn in the Democratic Party. He’s traversing the state to boost his name recognition and fundraising.
“I’m very confident that we’re going to surprise people,” he said.
Warner said he’s not taking anything for granted, recalling his 2014 Senate race with Republican Ed Gillespie. “I was a little too confident in the Gillespie race,” he said. “A week out, some polls had me up by eight points. I won by one.”
The need to establish guardrails on the explosive growth of AI and data centers has found favor with members of both parties. This race is no exception, although the candidates differ somewhat in their approach.
Warner has rolled out a comprehensive AI legislative package and wants to act quickly to establish basic safety protocols for AI. Congress could look at programs from other nations as an initial template. That said, he doesn’t buy the doomsday scenarios that some have raised.
“I think the AI industry has done a dreadful job of showing how this can actually work for human beings,” he said.
For example, AI could help a veteran navigate the Veterans Administration healthcare bureaucracy, even scheduling an Uber to drive to an appointment.
“We need to see visible evidence that people are going to benefit from this,” he said.
Virginia has more data centers than any other state with 685 either currently operating or planned, according to the Pew Research Center. Mizusawa said the industry can facilitate that expansion without raising fears from the public about massive buildings in their neighborhoods.
“We have plenty of space in our country to put them remotely,” he said. “Data centers should not be put in any local community that doesn’t want it.”
However, any regulation cannot stifle the industry’s advance, allowing it to fall behind China and other competitors, he said.
Mizusawa was a foreign policy adviser to then-candidate Donald Trump in 2016 and supports the president’s actions regarding the war in Iran. The commander-in-chief has access to sensitive intelligence regarding Iran’s nuclear capabilities and other issues that the public doesn’t see.
“I think we have to trust the president on that account,” he said. “If it were a Democratic president, I would say the same thing.”
He said he realizes the pain of higher gas prices as someone who is currently crisscrossing the state. “I feel the pain that other Virginians are feeling,” he said. “I think this is a relatively small price to pay for something worse that could happen to our country.”
Warner disagrees. He sees the conflict in Iran as “a fiasco of historic proportions.”
“We differ very much on President Trump,” he said. “ I don’t see any scenario going forward where Iran doesn’t extract some kind of toll on the strait of Hormuz.”
When Warner successfully campaigned for governor in 2001, he rolled out blaze-orange campaign merchandise and a twangy campaign tune that called him “a good ole boy from up in Novaville” to soften his image as an urban, high-tech businessman.
Warner has returned since then and says that area of the state has changed.
“I think southwest Virginia is resilient,” he said. “They’ve come back.”
The development of broadband and growth of outdoor tourism has helped the economy, he said, “but there are still needs. I’m going keep going back and doing whatever I can to help.”
Mizusawa says voters in that region feel they are under-represented compared to more populous areas of the state, and he can do a better job. In fact, he must do a better job, because it’s difficult for a Republican to win statewide without strong support from the region.
“I will hear their issues,” he said. “I know they want more jobs.”
He pointed to Virginia Tech’s new research and testing center on countering unmanned aircraft systems, or drones, as worthy of support. Officials hosted a ribbon-cutting there in August, which Warner attended.
As for his ties to Trump, Mizusawa said he is someone who can work with the president, as opposed to Warner. But he said the race isn’t about Trump, who will only be president for two more years.
Warner has a big lead in early fundraising, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. He raised $25.1 million as of July 15 and recently rolled out two TV ads. Mizusawa raised $376,200 in the same time frame, although that doesn’t reflect any support he’s received since winning the Aug. 4 GOP primary.
