A few minutes ago, the 7th CD Virginia Democratic committee voted to hold a primary to choose its nominee to take on Rep. Dave Brat (R) in the general election. With that, we now know all the Democratic congressional committees’ selections for method of nomination.
VA-01: Primary
VA-02: Primary
VA-05: Party-run caucus and convention
VA-06: Primary
VA-07: Primary
VA-09: Primary
VA-10: Primary
My general view is that there’s no perfect method of nomination, especially in a state with no party registration or ranked/range voting for state-run primaries, but all else being equal I prefer primaries. Which means that all the Virginia Democratic committees, with the exception of VA-05, made the “right” decision from my point of view, although I understand why a committee might opt for a method of nomination other than a primary. With that, let the best candidates win…and then go on to oust the Republican currently misrepresenting their district!
P.S. As far as I’m aware, the Democratic incumbents in VA-03 (Bobby Scott), VA-04 (Donald McEachin), VA-08 (Don Beyer) and VA-11 (Gerry Connolly) are uncontested…
