VA11 Dems Firehouse Primary Results Thread; Votes Being Counted, but Stella Pekarsky Campaign Already Has Congratulated James Walkinshaw “for his victory tonight”

Polls closed at 7 pm, and we should have official results in the next few hours from the VA11 Democratic “firehouse primary” held today for the seat of the late, great Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA11), who passed away on May 21. For official results once they’re posted, see here. I’ll use this blog post to update on whatever I’m hearing…including that the Stella Pekarsky campaign has already congratulated James Walkinshaw and encouraged everyone else to “get behind him for the special election in September so we can send Donald Trump the biggest possible message from Fairfax.”

P.S. The candidates in this primary were:Amy Papanu;Amy Roma; Candice Bennett; Dan Lee; Irene Shin; James Walkinshaw; Leo Martinez; Priya Punnoose; Stella Pekarsky and Ross Branstetter

UPDATE 10:12 pm: Del. Irene Shin also has congratulated James Walkinshaw – who I’m hearing might end up with 60% of the vote or close to 60% – and urged everyone to get behind him for the 9/9 special election.

UPDATE 9:40 pm: Everything I’m hearing and seeing is that not only is Walkinshaw going to win, he’s going to win with an absolute majority…maybe even getting close to the upper 50s or whatever. Impressive!

UPDATE 8:45 pm: Ben Tribbett tweets, “Early vote was definitely an illusion from where vote was coming from. Election Day got very old, white and east quickly.”