Virginia to hold Congressional primaries on Tuesday

The Commonwealth of Virginia usually holds primary elections in June, but voters will go to the polls tomorrow to select Congressional candidates for the November 3 contest.

This is the second election held all across Virginia this year. Democrats in the General Assembly voted to hold a referendum on April 21 on a Constitutional amendment to redraw

Congressional boundaries to counter redistricting efforts in other parts of the United States of America. The new map would have created ten districts that heavily favored Democrats.

Before the special election, the General Assembly moved the primary to August 4 to give time for candidates to prepare for the ballot.

Though the Constitutional amendment passed with a narrow majority, a divided Virginia Supreme Court dismissed the results on May 8 on a 4-3 ruling.

The early voting period began on June 18, a day earlier due to the Juneteenth holiday.

As of August 2, 97,147 ballots have been cast in the Democratic primary and 67,457 voters have participated in the Republican primary. That compares with 120,137 and 77,262 respectively through two days before the June 2024 primary. The data comes from the Virginia Department of Elections as presented by the Virginia Public Access Project.

Looking at the numbers for the 5th District, participation is up in the Democratic primary with 17,982 votes cast through August 2 compared to 13,005 in the same period in 2024.

Three candidates are on the ballot. They are Suzanne K. Krzyzanowski of Lynchburg Tom Perriello of Charlottesville, and Rob Tracinski of Louisa County.

Perriello, a one-term Congressman originally elected in 2008, has raised $2,140,401 through July 15 compared to $54,102 for Tracinski and $16,897 for Krzyzanowski.

Participation is down in the Fifth District Republican primary with 13,063 votes cast through August 2 compared to 14,510 for the comparable period in 2024.

Two candidates are on the ballot. Incumbent John McGuire faces a challenge from Melanie Lucero. McGuire has raised $1,735,141 through July 15 compared to $88,297 from Lucero.

Two independent candidates on the November 3 ballot are Cooke Costa Harvey and Chris Register.

Curious about where to vote? Visit the Virginia Department of Elections.

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