Virginians pick their Democratic ticket, setting up consequential November election

Listen live here to digest the latest primary election results with WTOP. We’ll have team coverage and analysis on air, online and on our social media platforms.

Polls closed at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Virginia on a primary election that saw Republicans with no choices to make in statewide races, while Democrats picked from a crowded field to decide their nominee for lieutenant governor.

The top of both parties’ tickets are already decided, as Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears and Democratic U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger ran unopposed as nominations for governor.

One of six Democratic hopefuls will be Spanberger’s running mate. Democrats across Virginia chose Tuesday from the following candidates for the lieutenant governor nomination, with their percentage of the vote as of 12:04 a.m.:

State Sen. Ghazala Hashmi of Richmond — 27.49%
State Sen. Aaron Rouse of Virginia Beach — 26.16%
Prince William County School Board Chairman Babur Lateef — 8.44%
Former Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney — 26.65%
Former federal government attorney Alexander J. Bastani — 5.70%
Former federal government attorney Victor Salgado — 5.57%

“When you look at Hashmi, Lateef, Rouse and Stoney, they’ve all raised over a million dollars, which is pretty impressive for a primary election, and so they clearly have a lot of support behind them and that helps them with their campaigns,” said Alex Keena, political science professor at Virginia Commonwealth University.

On the Republican side, talk-radio host John Reid ran uncontested for the lieutenant governor nomination. Virginia Attorney General and incumbent Jason Miyares also faced no opposition within his party in seeking reelection.

In picking their nominees for attorney general, Democrats had two choices: Former state Del. Jay Jones and Henrico County Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor. The margin between Jones and Taylor proved razor thin, however, the winning ticket was ultimately called for Jones at 9:55 p.m. after clinching 50.94% of the vote to Taylor’s 49.06%.

“Polling doesn’t tell us a whole lot, again both candidates are raising about the same amount, but the big difference between the two is the looming presence of Dominion Energy. Shannon Taylor has received quite a bit from Dominion Energy and Jay Jones has actually been very outspoken against Dominion Energy,” Keena said.

Moments after Jones clinched the nomination, Miyares issued a statement claiming that Jones’ win makes “clear they (Democrats) stand to unravel the safer, more prosperous Virginia we have worked so hard to build.

“My opponent’s ideological record makes Virginia families less safe and our streets more violent,” he added.

Speaking to WTOP’s Mike Murillo on his win and Miyares’ statement, Jones said his November opponent has “had every opportunity to fight for federal workers, to fight for people’s livelihood. He’d rather be Donald Trump’s pro bono attorney than do his job.”

“Democrats are ready to go and get our Commonwealth back on track, win the governor’s mansion, get the gavel back in the Senate, beat Jason Miyares and grow our majority in the House of Delegates,” he added.

House of Delegates majority hangs in the balance

All 100 seats in the state House of Delegates are up for election this year, although only 15 districts held contested primaries. Democrats hold slender majorities in both the state House (51-49) and the state Senate (21-19). Members of the upper chamber will not face voters until 2027.

In the D.C. region, the only contested primaries for House seats were in Arlington County’s District 1, Prince William County’s District 21 and Culpeper County’s District 62.

In District 1, incumbent Democratic Del. Patrick Hope faced challenges from Sean Epstein and Arjoon Srikanth. Hope was the declared projected winner at 8:37 p.m., with 71.8% of the vote to Srikanth’s 19.4% and Epstein’s 8.8%.

“I’ve never stopped fighting for my constituents and, clearly, this is a clear message we’re not done fighting,” Hope told WTOP’s Nick Iannelli, adding that the biggest concerns for Virginians are what’s happening in Congress.

“They’re (Virginians) concerned about the reductions in force for federal employees and contractors. Everyone at some point is affected by that. I know our locality is affected by it as well, too. But also they’re watching what’s happening through the reconciliation process in Congress and they’re very concerned about what that might mean for their pocketbooks.”

Hope said federal spending cuts could ultimately harm Virginia for years. “The state’s going to have to kick in revenue to help close those gaps to help support those families. And this is not just a one-time thing. This is going to really affect our surpluses going forward,” he said.

Republicans in District 21 chose from Gregory Gorham, Xanthe Larsen and Sahar Smith. The winner will face off against incumbent Democratic Del. Joshua Thomas. At 8:10 p.m., Gorham was declared the winner by the Associated Press, having led with 66.35% of the vote to Smith’s 27.02% and Larsen’s 6.63%

District 62’s Republican Del. Nick Freitas did not run for reelection, opening the door for two new Republican candidates, Clay Jackson and Karen Hamilton. The winner will face off against Democratic candidate Sara Ratcliffe in November. AP called the race for Hamilton at 9:58 p.m. with 58.02% of the vote.

Virginia does not conduct automatic recounts. Candidates may request and pay for recounts if the margin between the top two candidates is 1% or less. The Associated Press may declare a winner in a race that is eligible for a recount if it can determine the lead is too large for a recount or legal challenge to change the outcome.

Low turnout reported

As of 3 p.m. Tuesday, Fairfax County reported 2.9% of registered voters had shown up to the polls to vote — that’s on top of the 3.9% of registered voters who voted early in-person or through a mail-in ballot.

The last primary for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general in 2021 saw 11.3% turnout among registered Democrats. Four years ago, five Democrats were vying for the nomination for governor, while this year, Spanberger is running unopposed, which may explain the lower turnout. Republicans opted to hold a convention instead of a primary in 2021.

Arlington County reported that, as of 5 p.m., about 7% of registered voters had voted Tuesday. On top of early voting and mail ballots, total turnout sat at about 12%, according to the county’s elections board. In 2021’s primary, 16% turnout was reported.

In Loudoun County, as of 4 p.m., total turnout sat at 4.81%, including mail ballots, early voting and Election Day voting. That compares to 13.81% turnout in 2017’s primary. Loudoun County didn’t have turnout data for 2021’s primary on its website.

Prince William County reported 5.7% total turnout, including all forms of voting, as of 3 p.m. Tuesday. Turnout data for past gubernatorial primaries in Prince William was not immediately available.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.

© 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.