UPDATE 9:05 pm – Prince William County results finally pour in, and as expected, Prince William County Supervisor Yesli Vega is dominating there, which translates to her pulling away from the Republican field. With 188 of 213 precincts in the VA07 GOP primary now reporting, Vega’s got 28.42% to 23.86% for Derrick Anderson and 20.39% for Bryce Reeves, with Crystal Vanuch at 17.18%. Also note, Vega has 10,382 votes, which compares to 19,347 for Rep. Ben Cline (R) in VA06; 22,200 for Jen Kiggans (R) in VA02; and 42,098 for Rep. Don Beyer (D) in VA08. No sign of any Republican enthusiasm edge over Dems tonight in Virginia, that’s for sure!
UPDATE 8:17 pm – The reason Ben Tribbett likely called it for Vega in VA07 is that she has a narrow lead, with almost all of her home turf of Prince William County still to report, and with the Prince William County early/absentee vote going strongly for Vega…
UPDATE 8:00 pm – With 122/213 precincts reporting in the VA07 GOP primary, it’s now Derrick Anderson 24.64%-Yesli Vega 24.27%-Bryce Reeves 21.22%-Crystal Vanuch 20.44%. Still no results from Vega’s home turf of PW County yet…
UPDATE 7:56 pm – So far tonight, the top vote getters are Democrat Don Beyer (27,945) in VA08, Republican Jen Kiggans (11,848) in VA02, Republican Ben Cline (11,018) in VA06 and Democrat Victoria Virasingh (8,379) in VA08.
UPDATE 7:45 pm – Still looking pretty good for Yesli Vega in VA07 right now, with 102/213 precincts reporting, as she leads 26.1%-24.6%-22.3% over Derrick Anderson and Bryce Reeves, without any results from her home turf of Prince William County reporting yet.
UPDATE 7:40 pm – In the VA03 GOP primary, Terry Namkung looks like he’ll be the nominee over Ted Engquist to lose to Rep. Bobby Scott (D) this November, as Namkung leads 60%-40% with 148/201 precincts reporting.
UPDATE 7:34 pm – It’s looking good for Yesli Vega in VA07 right now, with 89/213 precincts reporting, as she leads 26.3%-24.8%-21.9% over Derrick Anderson and Bryce Reeves, without any results from her home turf of Prince William County reporting yet.
UPDATE 7:29 pm – With 80 of 213 precincts reporting in the VA07 GOP primary, it’s now Yesli Vega 26.7%-Derrick Anderson 24.4%-Bryce Reeves 22.3%-Crystal Vanuch 17.5%.
UPDATE 7:23 pm – Ben “Not Larry Sabato” Tribbett has called VA06 for Rep. Ben Cline in his GOP primary, VA08 for Rep, Don Beyer in his Democratic primary, and VA02 for Jen Kiggans in her Republican primary. Chaz Nuttycombe has called those races as well – for Cline, Beyer and Kiggans.
UPDATE 7:13 pm – With 13 of 182 precincts reporting in the VA08 Democratic primary, Rep. Don Beyer leads Victoria Virasingh 73%-27%. Obviously, Beyer’s going to win, the only question being the margin. In V02, Jen Kiggans is out to a 53%-31%-13% lead over her Republican rivals Jarome Bell and Tommy Altman, with 6 of 236 precincts reporting. In the VA07 Republican primary, with 11 of 213 precincts reporting, Yesli Vega is out to a lead, with 31% of the vote, with Derrick Anderson in second place at 26.2% and Bryce Reeves with 18.8% of the vote. As for VA06, incumbent Rep. Ben Cline (R) is up 82%-18% over his Republican opponent Merritt Hale, with 28 of 324 precincts reporting. And in VA03, it’s Republican Terry Namkung leading Republican Ted Engquist 62%-38% with 12 of 201 precincts reporting, for the right to get crushed in November by Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA03).
It’s 7 pm, and polls are now closed in Virginia. In this live blog of the election returns, I’ll primarily be checking the State Board of Elections website and VPAP, among other sources (e.g., Ben “Not Larry Sabato” Tribbett’s Twitter feed and the CNalysis Twitter feed). Feel free to use the comments section of this post to report what you’re hearing.
The races I’ll be closely watching are, in roughly the following order: 1) the VA07 Republican nomination contest, with the top three contenders generally considered to be Bryce Reeves, Yesli Vega and Derrick Anderson; 2) the VA02 Republican nomination contest, with VA State Senator Jennifer Kiggans assumed by everyone to be the frontrunner (what will her margin of victory be? what will turnout look like?); 3) the VA08 Democratic nomination contest (let’s see how Rep. Don Beyer performs relative to VPAP’s “over/under” of 85%); 4) the VA03 and VA06 Republican nomination contests, neither in competitive districts.
As for turnout, keep in mind that there are no statewide contests on the ballot, also that there aren’t any particularly competitive Democratic primaries, and that many of the nominations were already decided prior to today’s primaries – in nominating “firehouse primaries,” etc. So turnout will presumably be very low, relative to years during which there’s a lot more going on.
With that, it’s time for results!
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