See below for results from yesterday’s Democratic “firehouse primary” in SD09 for the soon-to-be-vacated seat held by Jennifer McClellan, who last Tuesday was elected to the U.S. House in the Fourth Congressional District. Congratulations to Del. Lamont Bagby on his resounding win (72.4% of the vote, versus just 21.1% for Alexsis Rodgers and 6.5% for Del. Dawn Adams). So in the end, Bagby did even better than many of us suspected (chatting with other Virginia political nerds the past few days, we were tossing around estimates that Bagby might win with 65% or so, with Adams struggling to break 10% and Rodgers with maybe 25%).
Del. Bagby, who is the chair of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, was endorsed by Sen. Tim Kaine, Sen. Mark Warner, Rep. Bobby Scott and many others, plus was well funded, thus able to go up with ads on TV and radio. In contrast, Rodgers mostly focused on a grassroots campaign of knocking thousands of doors, phone banking, etc…but in the end, it wasn’t enough to overcome Bagby’s massive advantages in terms of resources, endorsements, etc. Also note that SD09 is a safe-“blue” seat, so there’s no question that Democrats will hold it on March 28.
And finally, note that this special election is being held under the old/existing district lines. As I wrote yesterday, Del. Bagby will now have to turn right around and run again in the newly drawn SD14 (confusing, huh?) in the June primary. Meanwhile, once Bagby is elected in late March, he will serve in this seat until the beginning of 2024, when the new district lines will FINALLY kick in fully. And yes, it’s super confusing! LOL By the way, there’s already one Democrat (@ElectKatieGooch) running in the June primary for the NEW SD14. Presumably, Bagby will also run in June, along with Gooch and possibly one or more of the candidates who do NOT win yesterday. Stay tuned…
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