UPDATE 9:30 pm – Congratulations to Del. Kaye Kory on her victory tonight, 63%-37% over Andres Jimenez in HD38. Also, congratulations to Lindsey Dougherty, who won a narrow victory (51%-49%) over Tavorise Marks in HD62.
UPDATE 9:25 pm – Just saw this tweet. @notlarrysabato 5 minutes ago “Ray Morrogh just conceded primary in Fairfax tonight. He spent final week in hospital after collapsing on Wednesday and got out today just in time to vote. So glad he is doing better and proud of how close he got after being vastly outspent.”
UPDATE 9:24 pm – With 247/251 precincts reporting in Fairfax County and Fairfax City, I’m calling it for Steve Descano over Commonwealth’s Attorney Ray Morrogh, as there’s no way Morrogh can make up a 1,215-vote margin with just four precincts remaining. Congratulations to Steve Descano on his win tonight, and thanks to Ray Morrogh for his many years of public service!
UPDATE 9:16 pm – On the Republican side, Jen Kiggans – who is far right and definitely needs to lose in November! – won the nomination in SD7. Again, we have to win that seat – go Cheryl Turpin! Another far-right nutter, Geary Higgins, must be defeated (by Democrat John Bell) in SD13. And Paul Milde – yet another extreme Republican – must be defeated by Democrat Joshua Cole this November in HD28.
UPDATE 9:13 pm – Congratulations to Amy Ashworth, who defeated Tracey Lenox 62%-38% for the PW County Commonwealth’s Attorney Democratic nomination!
UPDATE 9:09 pm – Calling it for Sen. Dick Saslaw, who leads Yasmine Taeb 48.37%-46.02% with 43/46 precincts (of which one is provisional ballots – not many of those) reporting. The difference in this one, apparently, was Karen Torrent, who took 5.6% of the vote, presumably most of it from Taeb.
UPDATE 9:04 pm – Getting close to calling the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney race for Steve Descano, as he’s been holding a lead, albeit small, for some time now. Right now, with 206/244 precincts reporting, it’s Steve Descano 51.2%-Ray Morrogh 48.8%.
UPDATE 9:02 pm – Congratulations to Jeff McKay on winning the Democratic nomination for Fairfax County Board Chair. I endorsed Alicia Plerhoples, who finished second and who has a very bright future, but I also like Jeff McKay and think he’ll do a fine job as Chair.
UPDATE 9:00 pm – With 40/46 precincts reporting, it’s now Sen. Dick Saslaw with just 48.1% vs. Yasmine Taeb with 46.3% and Karen Torrent with 5.6%. Wow.
UPDATE 8:57 pm – Finally some results in Prince William County. Congratulations to Raheel Sheikh, who won the Coles District Democratic nomination 59%-41% over LT Pridgen. And congratulations to Kenny Boddye, who defeated Aaron Edmond 64%-36% in Occoquan District. Also, congratulations to Margaret Angela Franklin, who defeated incumbent Frank Principi 54.5%-45.5% in Woodbridge District. And congratulations to Josh King, who defeated Brian Fields for the PW County Sheriff Democratic nomination 65%-35%.
UPDATE 8:54 pm – Del. Lee Carter has defeated Mark Wolfe 58%-42% in HD50. Del. Luke Torian has defeated Kevin Wade 76%-24% in HD52. It’s still very close in HD62 between Tavorise Marks (51.8%) and Lindsey Dougherty (48.2%), with 23/25 precincts reporting.
UPDATE 8:51 pm – With 12/20 precincts reporting in HD38, it’s Del. Kaye Kory 61.3%-Andres Jimenez 38.7%. And it’s still a tight race in SD35 (39/46 precincts reporting), with Senate Minority Leader leading Yasmine Taeb by just under 2 points (48.0%-46.4%), with Karen Torrent at 5.6%.
UPDATE 8:48 pm – For Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chair, it looks like Jeff McKay is going to win, as he leads Alicia Plerhoples by nearly 10 points (41.1%-31.7%) with 154/244 precincts reporting. The other two candidates – Ryan McElveen (17.2%) and Tim Chapman (10.0%) are far behind. In Hunter Mill District, Walter Alcorn is winning easily (47.8%) over Laurie Dodd (24.6%), Shyamali Hauth (15.1%), Maggie Parker (9.0%) and Parker Messick (3.4%), with 20/28 precincts reporting. In Lee District, with 13/25 precincts reporting, Rodney Lusk is winning easily, with 43% of the vote vs. 21.1% for Kelly Hebron, 18.9% for James Migliaccio and 17.0% for Larysa Kautz. In Providence District, Dalia Palchik is winning easily, with 41% of the vote vs. 24% for Phil Niedzelski-Eichner, 13.2% for Erika Yalowitz, 12.4% for Edythe Kelleher and 9.8% for Linh Hoang, with 18/27 precincts reporting. And in Braddock District, James Walkinshaw is winning easily (66%-34%) over Irma Corado.
UPDATE 8:41 pm – Just to finalize the Arlington/Falls Church Commonwealth’s Attorney’s race results, it ended up at Parisa Tafti 13,500 (51.41%)-incumbent Theo Stamos 12,758 (48.6%). And in the other big Commonwealth’s Attorney race in Northern Virginia, it’s still neck and neck between challenger Steve Descano (50.7%) and incumbent Ray Morrogh (49.3%) with 154/244 precincts reporting in Fairfax County.
UPDATE 8:40 pm – @RachelBitecofer 12 minutes ago “Only two Democratic candidates ran their primary strategies around embracing @GovernorVA: Kim Howard in VA 7 and Rosalyn Dance in District 16. It didn’t work well for either of them.”
UPDATE 8:39 pm – With 33/46 precincts reporting, Sen. Dick Saslaw continues to hold a 3-point lead (48.6%-45.5%) over Yasmine Taeb, with Karen Torrent at 5.9%.
UPDATE 8:37 pm – For Charlottesville City Council, with 8/10 precincts reporting, the top three right now are Michael Payne (26.5%), Lloyd Snook (22.6%), and Sena Magill (22.4%).
UPDATE 8:34 pm – Congratulations to Justin Hannah for winning the Democratic nomination for Sheriff in Loudoun County! And congratulations to incumbent Supervisor Koran Saines for winning the nomination in Sterling district over Ibrahim Moiz, although clearly Moiz ran a very strong race, winning 47.4% of the vote.
UPDATE 8:32 pm – Very close in HD62 between Tavorise Marks (52.3%) and Lindsey Dougherty (47.7%), with 22/25 precincts reporting. In HD50, Del. Lee Carter leads Mark Wolfe 55.4%-44.6% with 8/17 precincts reporting. And in HD38, Del. Kaye Kory leads Andres Jimenez 58.9%-41.4% with 5/20 precincts reporting.
UPDATE 8:27 pm – Still too close to call in SD35, with Sen. Dick Saslaw leading Yasmine Taeb by 3 percentage points (48.5%-45.5%) with 27/46 precincts reporting. Karen Torrent has 6.0%, which of course is more than Saslaw’s 3-point margin right now.
UPDATE 8:23 pm – Here are Chaz Nuttycombe‘s calls so far. “Joe Morrissey has beaten Rosalyn Dance for the Democratic nomination for SD-16”; “In SD-13, Geary Higgins has won the Republican nomination”; “Unless I’m missing something, it looks like GOP Del. Bob Thomas has lost. He was one of 3 Va. Republicans facing primaries after voting for Medicaid expansion”; “Brent Finnegan has won the Democratic nomination for HD-26”; “Emmett Hanger has won the Republican nomination for SD-24”; “Garrison Coward has won the Republican nomination for HD-68”; “@LauraLGalante has won the Democratic nomination for HD-18″; “Suhas Subramanyam has won the Democratic nomination for HD-87”; “@jessfosterva has won the Democratic nomination for HD-88″; “Amanda Batten has won the Republican nomination in HD-96”; “@debrarodmanva has won the Democratic nomination for SD-12″; “@DowneyForVA has won the Democratic nomination for HD-96″; “@MarthaMugler has won the Democratic nomination for HD-91″; “@CherylTurpinVB has won the Democratic nomination for SD-07.”
UPDATE 8:21 pm – In SD35, it’s much closer than many (myself included) expected, with Senate Minority Leader Dick Saslaw leading Yasmine Taeb by a narrow margin (49.6%-44.4%) with 24/46 precincts reporting. Will Karen Torrent’s 5.9% make the difference here? Sure seems like it could play a major role in helping Saslaw win narrowly. In SD10, Hashmi appears to have it, as she leads 48.5%-41.5% with 67/70 precincts reporting. And in SD31, it’s now Sen. Barbara Favola 60.9%-Nicole Merlene 39.1% with 47/55 precincts reporting.
UPDATE 8:15 pm – On the Republican side, Jen Kiggans appears to be winning SD7 over Carolyn Weems; Geary Higgins is winning easily over Ron Meyer in SD13; incumbent Frank Ruff won easily in SD15; incumbent Bryce Reeves won easily in SD17; incumbent Emmett Hanger won easily (58%-42%) over far-right Tina Freitas in SD24; John Avoli defeated Dave Bourne in HD20; and Paul Milde defeated Del. Bob Thomas (51.4%-48.6%) in HD28, meaning that Democrats should have a good shot at winning this one in November.
UPDATE 8:14 pm – Now with 65/70 precincts reporting, Ghazala Hashmi leads Eileen Bedell in SD10 by a 48.4%-41.6% margin. Looks like Hashmi’s got this one! Also, congratulations to Debra Rodman for winning the Democratic nomination in SD12; Amanda Pohl for winning the nomination in SD11; Amy Laufer for winning the nomination in SD17; Qasim Rashid for winning the nomination in SD28; Sen. Barbara Favola for winning the nomination in SD31; Sen. Jennifer Boysko for winning the nomination in SD33; Laura Galante for winning the nomination in HD18; Brent Finnegan for winning the nomination in HD26; Del. Alfonso Lopez for winning the nomination in HD49; Sally Hudson for winning the nomination in HD57; Suhas Subramanyam for winning the nomination in HD87; Jess Foster for winning the endorsement in HD88; Martha Mugler for winning the endorsement in HD91; and Mark Downey for winning the endorsement in HD96. I refuse to congratulate slimeball Joe Morrissey, who has defeated Sen. Rosalyn Dance in SD16.
UPDATE 8:08 pm – In Arlington County, it looks like Parisa Tafti has narrowly defeated Theo Stamos, as she leads 51.9%-48.2% with 54/55 precincts reporting. Wow, that’s a big one!
UPDATE 8:06 pm – In Fairfax County, Dalia Palchik is way ahead in Providence District, as she has 43% of the vote, with Phil Niedzelski-Eichner far behind in second place at 23%, with 6/27 precincts reporting. In Lee District, with just 3/25 precincts reporting, Rodney Lusk leads 44.2%-23.2% over James Migliaccio. In Hunter Mill District, Walter Alcorn is winning with 44.7% of the vote vs. Laurie Dodd (28.0%), Shyamali Hauth (15.8%), Maggie Parker (8.0%) and Parker Messik (3.6%), with 6/28 precincts reporting. And in Braddock District, James Walkinshaw is leading Irma Corado 63.9%-36.1% with 4/27 precincts reporting. Finally, in the Chair race, Jeff McKay’s at 41.2% vs. Alicia Plerhoples at 32.6%, with 49/244 precincts reporting.
UPDATE 8:00 pm – In Arlington County, with 47/55 precincts reporting, it’s Parisa Tafti 51.6%-Theo Stamos 48.4% in the Commonwealth’s Attorney race there. And in the Fairfax County C.A.’s race, it’s incumbent Ray Morrogh leading Steve Descano 50.1%-49.9%. Two nail biters!
UPDATE 7:59 pm – In HD49, Del. Alfonso Lopez is romping (as expected) over J.D. Spain, 79%-21%, with 13/21 precincts reporting. In HD57, Sally Hudson is winning easily (67%-33%) over Kathy Galvin – that one’s over; congratulations to Sally Hudson! 🙂 In HD62, Tavorise Marks leads Lindsey Dougherty 58.1%-41.9% with 12/24 precincts reporting. In HD87, Suhas Subranayam is the winner by a huge margin. Same thing for Mark Downey in HD96, Martha Mugler in HD91, Jess Foster in HD88, and Laura Galante in HD18.
UPDATE 7:54 pm – In SD10, Ghazala Hashmi has pulled back ahead of Eileen Bedell, 46.4%-43.5%, with 64/70 precincts reporting. In SD16, unfortunately, it looks like Joe Morrissey is defeating Sen. Rosalyn Dance, as he leads 58%-42% with 47/57 precincts reporting. Not good.
UPDATE 7:52 pm – On the Republican side, Jen Kiggans narrowly (52%-48%) leads Carolyn Weems in SD7, with 39/49 precincts reporting. In SD13, Geary Higgins is cruising to victory over Ron Meyer, as he leads 63%-37% with 49/68 precincts reporting. In SD17, Sen. Bryce Reeves is crushing his Republican opponent, Rich Breeden, 83%-17%. In HD28, with 21/23 precincts reporting, it’s Paul Milde 52.6%-Del. Bob Thomas 47.4%. And in SD24, Sen. Emmett Hanger is beating Tina Freitas 60%-40% with 52/79 precincts reporting.
UPDATE 7:47 pm – In SD28, Qasim Rashid is cruising to victory over Laura Sellers, 60%-40% with 41/61 precincts reporting. In SD35, Sen. Dick Saslaw holds a narrow lead (49.0%-46.5%) over Yasmine Taeb (and Karen Torrent at 4.5%) with 9/46 precincts reporting.
UPDATE 7:46 pm – In SD10, Eileen Bedell holds a slim lead (46.8%-43.5%) over Ghazala Hashmi, with 64/70 precincts reporting. Debra Rodman is winning SD12 by a 60%-40% margin over Veena Lothe, with 51/62 precincts reporting. Amanda Pohl is winning SD11 easily (78%-22%) over Wayne Powell, with 44/60 precincts reporting.
UPDATE 7:43 pm – In HD87, it looks like Suhas Subramanyam (48.5%) is winning easily over Hassan Ahmad (20.8%), Akshay Bhamidipati (15.8%) and Johanna Gusman (14.8%), with 21/31 precincts reporting. In HD91, Martha Mugler has won by a greater than 2:1 margin over Michael Wade. In SD16, it looks like Joe Morrissey might actually defeat Sen. Rosalyn Dance, as he currently leads 58.2%-41.8% with 39/57 precincts reporting. What a nightmare.
UPDATE 7:38 pm – In Loudoun County, with 95% reporting, it’s Justin Hannah 50.7%-Chris Harmison 43.4% in the Sheriff’s race. It looks like Hannah’s got this one! 🙂 As for the Sterling District Supervisor’s race, it’s close between Koran Saines (51.5%) and Ibrahim Moiz (46.9%).
UPDATE 7:36 pm – In the Arlington Commonwealth’s Attorney race, it’s currently Tafti 53.6%-Stamos 46.4% with 29/55 precincts reporting. And in the Fairfax C.A.’s race, it’s Descano 51.6%-Morrogh 48.4% with 17/244 precincts reporting. In the Fairfax County Board Chair race, it’s McKay 42.1%-Plerhoples 31.8%-McElveen 15.5%-Chapman 10.6% with 17/244 precincts reporting.
UPDATE 7:35 pm – In SD10, it’s a close one between Eileen Bedell (46.3%) and Ghazala Hashmi (44.3%), and Zachary Brown at 9.4%, with 49/70 precincts reporting.
UPDATE 7:34 pm – In SD7, with 13/49 precincts reporting, it looks like Cheryl Turpin (65%) is cruising to victory over Susan Hippen (20%) and Kim Howard (15%). In SD12, Debra Rodman leads 62%-38% over Veena Lothe with 35/62 precincts reporting. In SD31, Sen. Barbara Favola leads Nicole Merlene 56.4%-43.6% with 9/55 precincts reporting. In SD35, Sen. Dick Saslaw leads Yasmine Taeb and Karen Torrent 50.3%-45.0%-4.7%, with 4/46 precincts reporting. In HD88, Jess Foster leads Kecia Evans 76.5%-25.5% with 4/27 precincts reporting.
UPDATE 7:28 pm – In Arlington County, with 16/55 precincts reporting, it’s Parisa Tafti 54.5%-Theo Stamos 45.5% in the race for Commonwealth’s Attorney. And in Fairfax County, with 5/244 precincts reporting, it’s Steve Descano 51.5%-Ray Morrogh 48.5% in the race for Commonwealth’s Attorney there. In the Fairfax County Board Chair race, it’s Jeff McKay 42.7%-Alicia Plerhoples 28.2%-Ryan McElveen 17.4%-Tim Chapman 11.8% with 5/244 precincts reporting.
UPDATE 7:26 pm – Ee gads, Joe Morrissey is romping in SD16; with 5/57 precincts reporting, he leads Sen. Rosalyn Dance 70.4%-29.6%. Ugh. In HD91, Martha Mugler is easily defeating Michael Wade…calling that one. And in HD96, Mark Downey (53.0%) is running away with it against Rebecca Leser (27.7%) and Christopher Mayfield (19.3%) with 10/23 precincts reporting.
UPDATE 7:22 pm – In SD11, Amanda Pohl leads Wayne Powell “bigly” (81%-19%), with 2/60 precincts reporting. In SD17, Amy Laufer is wayyyy ahead of Ben Hixon (84%-16%) with 3/71 precincts reporting. In SD28, it’s close between Qasim Rashid (52.2%) and Laura Sellers (47.8%) with 7/61 precincts reporting. In HD18, Laura Galante is off to a big lead (74%-26%) over Tristan Shields. In HD50, Del. Lee Carter leads Mark Wolfe 55%-45% with 4/17 precincts reporting. In HD91, Martha Mugler is way ahead of Michael Wade, 68%-32%, with 9/24 precincts reporting.
UPDATE 7:16 pm – In SD6, incumbent Sen. Lynwood Lewis has jumped out to a big lead (74%-26%) over challenger Willie Randall. In SD12, Debra Rodman leads Veena Lothe 59%-41% with 5/62 precincts reporting. In SD16, Joe Morrissey leads Sen. Rosalyn Dance 58%-42% with 2/57 precincts reporting. In Arlington County, Parisa Tafti leads Theo Stamos 50.1%-49.9% with 4/55 precincts reporting.
UPDATE 7:12 pm – In Loudoun County, with 32% reporting, it’s now Chris Harmison 49.4%-Justin Hannah 47.1% in the Dem primary for Sheriff. For the Sterling District Supervisor’s position, it’s incumbent Koran Saines 60.1%-Ibrahim Moiz 38.6%.
UPDATE 7:08 pm – @amaxsmith 15 seconds ago “#Loudoun County already has its first numbers. In the Dem primary for Sheriff – Justin Hannah has the 327-296 edge with 9% reporting.”
********************
It’s 7 pm, and polls are now closed in Virginia. In this live blog of the primary election returns, I’ll primarly be checking the State Board of Elections website, VPAP, the Fairfax County Board of Elections site and the Loudoun County Elections site. Feel free to use the comments section of this post to report what you’re hearing. The top 20+ races I’ll be closely watching, in (very) roughly descending order, are:
1) The Fairfax County (Ray Morrogh vs. Steve Descano) and Arlington County (Theo Stamos vs. Parisa Tafti) Commonwealth’s Attorney’s races, which demolished records for the amount of money ever spent in Virginia on a local election, overwhelmingly from the “Justice and Public Safety PAC.”
2) The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chair race, which should come down to Jeff McKay and Alicia Plerhoples vying for the victory, despite challenger Tim Chapman spending unheard-of amounts of money, which he used in part to go after McKay (possibly open up a path to victory for Plerhoples?).
3) The Democratic State Senate race in SD10, which should could be a very close contest between Ghazala Hashmi (who I’ve endorsed) and Eileen Bedell.
4) The Democratic State Senate race in SD16, between Sen. Rosalyn Dance and Joe Morrissey. We’d all better hope Dance wins!
5) The Republican State Senate race in SD24, between Sen. Emmett Hanger and Tina Freitas. Nothing would surprise me here, given how crazy/extreme the Republican Party has gotten.
6) The Republican State Senate race in SD13, between Geary Higgins and Ron Meyer. I’m kinda rooting for Higgins, just because he comes across as even more extreme than Meyer, so should (hopefully) be easier for Democratic nominee John Bell to beat this November.
7) The Democratic State Senate primary in SD7, between Kim Howard, Cheryl Turpin and Susan Hippen. I endorsed Howard, but I think Turpin is probably the (slight?) favorite in this one.
8) The State Senate Democratic primary in SD35, between Sen. Dick Saslaw, Yasmine Taeb and Karen Torrent. Will Taeb pull a huge upset over the Senate Democratic Leader? Stay tuned!
9) Fairfax County Supervisors races in Providence District (Dalia Palchik, Phil Niedzelski-Eichner, Erika Yalowitz, Edythe Kelleher, Linh Hoang), Lee District (Larysa Kautz, Rodney Lusk, James Migliaccio, Kelly Hebron), Hunter Mill District (Walter Alcorn, Shyamali Hauth, Maggie Parker, Laurie Dodd, Parker Messick) and Braddock District (James Walkinshaw, Irma Corado).
10) The House of Delegates Republican primary in HD28, between Del. Bob Thomas and Paul Milde. Democratic nominee Joshua Cole awaits the winner of this extreme-fest.
11) The Democratic State Senate primary in SD12, between Debra Rodman and Veena Lothe. I’m expecting Rodman to win this one, but we’ll see. I hope the party comes back together quickly, no matter who wins tonight.
12) The House of Delegates Democratic primary in HD57 between Sally Hudson and Kathy Galvin. Could be very close in this deep-blue district!
13) The House of Delegates Democratic primary in HD87 between Suhas Subramanyam, Hassan Ahmad, Akshay Bhamidipati, and Johanna Gusman. Again, could be very close; although Subramanyam goes in as the favorite, I wouldn’t be surprised if either Ahmad or Gusman (the only woman in a field of four) managed to pull this one off.
14) The House of Delegates Democratic primary in HD91, between Michael Wade and Martha Mugler. This is an interesting race between a more left-leaning Dem (Wade) and a more conservative Dem (Mugler), the latter endorsed by Senators Warner and Kaine, also Rep. Bobby Scott. I’m expecting Mugler to win, but you never know.
15) The House of Delegates Democratic primary in HD38, between Del. Kaye Kory and Andres Jimenez. I’d say Kory’s the favorite, but Jimenez has run an energetic campaign, the key to which is expanding/diversifying from the traditional (old, white) electorate.
16) The State Senate Democratic primary in SD11, between Amanda Pohl and Wayne Powell. I’m expecting Pohl, who I strongly support, to win this fairly easily, then hopefully defeat crazy Sen. Amanda Chase in November.
17) The House of Delegates Democratic primary in HD96, between Rebecca Leser, Mark Downey and Chris Mayfield. These days, I’d almost always bet on a female candidate beating male candidates in a Democratic primary, as we definitely saw that in 2017 and 2018, but we’ll see…
18) The State Senate Democratic primary in SD28, between Qasim Rashid and Laura Sellers. This one’s been wild, with Sellers actually expelled from the Stafford County Democratic Committee in the closing days of the campaign. At this point, I’d definitely expect Rashid to win this one.
19) The House of Delegates Democratic primary in HD26, between Cathy Copeland and Brent Finnegan. Really not sure who’s going to win this one, but if I had to put money down, I’d go with Copeland.
20) The House of Delegates Democratic primary in HD50, between Del. Lee Carter and Mark Wolfe. At the outset of this race, I thought Wolfe had the potential to give Carter a serious run for his money, but I kind of feel like he fizzled out, and that Carter should win this one. We’ll see.
I’m also very interested in what turnout will look like today. For comparison purposes, turnout in the last “odd-off-year” GENERAL election was a pathetic 29.1% statewide, and in the June 2015 primaries FAR lower than that (e.g., 10,178 turned out in the SD10 Democratic primary; only 3,191 turned out in the SD29 Democratic primary – keep in mind that each State Senate district in Virginia had about 110,000-120,000 active voters, so that turnout was in the 3%-9% range).
Sign up for the Blue Virginia weekly newsletter
