Republican wins special election to fill vacancy in Virginia Senate

The balance of power in the Virginia General Assembly’s lower chamber remains at 64 Democrats and 36 Republicans following a special election Tuesday.

Republican C. Andrew Rice defeated Democrat Cheryl Smith to fill a vacancy in the 98th District with 62.46 percent of the vote. Rice is a Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney according to his campaign website.

Rice replaces the late Barry Knight who died in February. Knight had defeated Smith in the November 2025 election with 56.65 percent of the election.

This special election took place on the tenth day of early voting for an April 21 special election on a Constitutional amendment to allow a mid-term Congressional redistricting.

As of March 17, 226,152 Virginians have cast ballots.

Mathews County leads the way with 10.7 percent of registered voters having cast a ballot whereas the City of Norton trails with 25 votes, or one percent.

In the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission, Fluvanna County has the highest percentage of participation so far with 1,727 ballots cast. That’s about 7.8 percent of registered voters.

In Nelson County, 5.9 percent of the electorate has voted, or 708 people. Greene County is next with 5.7 percent, or 928 voters. Then there is Louisa County with 4.9 percent, or 1,600 voters.

In Albemarle, 3,226 people have voted or 3.6 percent of the electorate. That drops to 3.2 percent in Charlottesville where 1,165 people have cast a ballot.

Across the mountain, 6.5 percent of Staunton voters have had their say. That’s 1,255 people. In Augusta County, 2,649 people have voted or 4.6 percent.

The Virginia Supreme Court has allowed voting to proceed despite a pair of legal challenges that will go before Justices some time after the vote results are known.

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