Guide to Virginia’s US Senate, US House and Local Primaries on Tuesday (8/4): Who Are You Voting For?

This coming Tuesday, August 4, Virginia will FINALLY hold Democratic and Republican primaries for US House, as well as for some local offices. I say “finally” because normally, these primaries are held in mid-June, but this year, the schedule was scrambled due to the redistricting amendment, which forced a postponement of the primaries to allow enough time for candidates to file in the (assumed) new districts…so much for that plan, right?  Sigh.   Anyway, here we are just a few days from August 4 – are you feeling any excitement, or are you more like, “wait, there are primaries in early August, WTF?”  Haha.  So…with that, here’s some information on the primaries, early voting turnout, etc.

First, here’s a list of the primaries that will be taking place on Tuesday: a statewide primary (for US Senate) on the GOP side, no statewide primary on the Deemocratic side; US House primaries for the Democrats in VA01, VA02, VA05, VA08 and VA), and for the Republicans in VA05, VA07 and VA10; Democratic primaries for Arlington County Board, Chesterfield Board of Supervisors, Harrisonburg City Council, Montgomery County Sheriff, and Roanoke City Council.

For information on voting, click here:

• Early/in-person voting through Saturday, 8/1
• You can vote at your regular polling location on Tuesday, 8/4 (from 6 am to 7 pm, as always)
• According to this, “All mailed ballots that were postmarked by Election Day must be received by the general registrar’s office by noon [on Friday, August 7] to be counted.”

How much early voting have we seen to date? According to VPAP, as of 7/30:

• 84,238 Democratic primary ballots have been cast vs. just 55,198 Republican primary ballots (despite Republicans having a statewide primary, for US Senate, on their ballot, and Democrats not having a statewide primary on their ballots)
• Early voting numbers for Democrats as of 7/30 are: VA08 (21,666), VA01 (18,331), VA02 (16,220), VA05 (15,832), and VA09 (8,188). For Republicans, the numbers are: VA05 (10,309), VA07 (4,997), VA10 (4,757)
• Also see here for a post I did on this topic on Monday, with comparison to early voting in 2018 (big drops, particularly on the Republican side, comapred to 2018…at least through last weekend’s early voting; we’ll see if election day itself has high turnout or not, although I’m doubting it at this point).

The federal candidates, are:

• For US Senate (on the Republican side to take on Sen. Mark Warner this fall): Bert Mizusawa (check this guy out; he’s a MAGA extremist loon all the way, yet he’s the frontrunner by all accounts!), Kim Farington, David Williams
• For VA01 (on the Democratic side): Elizabeth Dempsey Beggs, Salaam Bhatti, Tim Cywinski, Jason Knapp, Ericka Kopp, Shannon Taylor (the presume frontrunner). For more background on these candidates, see here (Blue Virginia) and here (the excellent Wittman Watch).
• For VA02 (on the Democratic side): Nila Devanath, Bill Fleming, former Rep. Elaine Luria (the presumed frontrunner), Patrick Mosolf
• For VA05 (on the Democratic side): Suzanne Krzyzanowski, former Rep. Tom Perriello (the presumed frontrunner), Rob Tracinski
• For VA05 (on the Republican side): Rep. John McGuire (the presume frontrunner – also a slimeball and far-right nutjob), Melanie Lucero
• For VA07 (on the Republican side): Philip Harding, Douglas Olivant, Ricky Smithers
• For VA08 (on the Democratic side): Rep. Don Beyer (the presumed favorite), Lorena Bruner, Michael Duffin, Adam Dunigan, Mo Seifeldein. For video and highlights from the June 28 Fairfax Dems VA08 forum and the 7/1 Arlington Dems VA08 forum, see here.
• For VA09 (on the Democratic side): Douglas Crockett, Adam Murphy, Joy Powers. For video from a recent VA09 Dems forum, see here.
• For VA10 (on the Republican side): Dave Beckwith, Julie Perry, Anthony Suttles

The local candidates are:

• For Arlington County Board (on the Democratic side): County Board Chair Matt de Ferranti (the presumed favorite), James DeVita, Julie Farnam
• For Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors (Dale District; on the Democratic side): LeQuan Monnier Hylton, Kathryn M. Crosby
• Harrisonburg City Council  (on the Democratic side):  Krista Nichole Gross, Monica Lynn Robinson, Dany Fleming, Kathy Meredith Hendley
• Roanoke City Council (on the Democratic side – top three finishers): Harvey D Brookins, Raekwon Moore, Peter Volosin, Vivian Sanchez-Jones, Shannon Clawson
• Note: I’m not clear about who the candidates are in the Montgomery County Sheriff’s primary listed by the State Board of Elections

Anything else you’re curious about regarding these primaries? Any other information you’re looking for?