Now that we’re in 2026, it’s time to focus on several upcoming special elections stemming from vacancies resulting from stuff that happened in 2025. See below for information, in chronological order, for these elections.
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UPDATED 1/6/26: Democrats easily win both of these seats (SD15 and HD77) – congrats to Senator-elect Mike Jones and Delegate-elect Charlie Schmidt!
- First, safe-blue Virginia State Senate District 15 (Chesterfield County/Richmond City) has a vacancy due to the election in November of Ghazala Hashmi to the Lt. Governor position. The Democratic nominee, former Del. Mike Jones, won that nomination on December 7 by a 71%-29% margin, and is facing Republican John R. Thomas in the special election on January 6.
- Second, safe-blue Virginia House of Delegates District 77 (Richmond City/Chesterfield County) has a vacancy due to the Democrats’ nomination of former Del. Mike Jones to the SD15 seat (see above). The Democratic nominee for this seat is Charlie Schmidt, who won the “firehouse primary” on 12/14, and is facing Republican Charles Stonage in the special election on January 6.
- There will be two special elections for House of Delegates on January 13: for the safe-blue HD11 seat previously held by Del. David Bulova, who is heading into the Spanberger administration as Secretary of Natural Resources; and for the also-safe-blue HD23 seat previously held by Del. Candi Mundon King, who is heading into the Spanberger administration as Secretary of the Commonwealth. HD11 Democratic nominee Gretchen Bulova (who won the nomination on 12/16/25) is facing Republican Adam Wise, while HD23 Democratic nominee Margaret Angela Franklin (who also won the nomination on 12/16/25) is facing Republican Vern Robinson.
- On January 20, there will be a special election for the safe-blue HD17 House of Delegates seat, being vacated by Del. Mark Sickles, who is headed into the Spanberger administration to be Secretary of Finance. The Democratic nominee there is Garrett McGuire, who won the nomination on 12/28, and who will be facing Republican Chris Cardiff for the seat.
- On March 3, there will be a special election for the Braddock District (Fairfax County) School Board seat vacated by Rachna Sizemore Heizer, who was elected to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on December 9, to the seat formerly held by James Walkinshaw, who was overwhelmingly elected to the U.S. House on September 9. See below for information on an upcoming Democratic candidate forum, at which the two candidates – Tom Dannan and Alicia Krezel – will lay out their qualifications, positions on the issues, etc. The Democrats’ “firehouse primary” for this nomination will be on January 10 – see here for information on when and where you can vote.
UPDATE 1/10 6:23 pm – Here are the final results…and a statement by the Fairfax Dems congratulating the winner, Tom Dannan.
Open Endorsement Caucus and Virtual Candidate Forum For Braddock District School Board
FAIRFAX, VA – The Fairfax County Democratic Committee (FCDC) will be conducting an Endorsement Caucus to select a Democratic endorsee for the Tuesday, March 3rd Braddock District School Board Special Election. This party-run Endorsement Caucus will take place in-person on Saturday, January 10th, with online voting available beginning Thursday, January 8th.
In-person voting on Saturday, January 10th will be by paper ballot and will take place at three locations within Braddock District from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.:
- Fairfax County Government Center, 12000 Government Center Parkway, Fairfax
- Braddock Hall, 9002 Burke Lake Rd, Burke
- Landings Community Center, 6001 Cove Landing Rd, Burke
Online voting will also be conducted to ensure voters unable to vote in-person have their voice heard. The electronic registration period for online voting will open at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, January 3 and close at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, January 7. Online voting will open at 12:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 8 and close at 5:00 p.m. on the day of in-person voting, Saturday, January 10. Registration for online voting will be available online at www.fairfaxdemocrats.org.
For questions about the Endorsement Caucus process, you can email BraddockSpecial@
A Virtual Candidate Forum will be held on Monday, January 5 at 7:00 p.m. to offer voters an opportunity to hear directly from the candidates as they share their vision for Braddock District and address the pressing issues facing our community. The event will be live streamed on the https://www.facebook.com/
Members of the press are invited to watch and cover the event.
More information about the Endorsement Caucus, Special Election and Virtual Candidate Forum can be found at www.fairfaxdemocrats.org.
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