Clusters of campaign signs marked polling places early Tuesday, but turnout seemed light by midmorning at a handful of precincts in Prince William County and Virginia Beach.
The state’s only Democratic primary is in Virginia’s 8th District, where Rep. Donald S. Beyer faces political newcomer Victoria Virasingh, and Republicans are selecting nominees in two other noncompetitive districts. Rep. Ben Cline (R) faces Merritt Hale in the 6th, and two Republicans in the 3rd — Ted Engquist and Terry Namkung — are competing for the nomination to take on Rep. Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-Va.) in a deep-blue district.
For Republicans, the prospect of flipping the 2nd and 7th districts — a potentially important part of their path to winning control of the House — has raised the stakes for voters there.
In the Virginia Beach-anchored 2nd, state Sen. Jen Kiggans is the presumed front-runner, having raised more than $1 million and secured backing from House Republican leadership. Her opponents of her have run to her right of her, trying to frame her as a “Republican in Name Only,” or RINO, for some past bipartisan votes, such as her support for LGBTQ nondiscrimination laws. But Kiggans have sought to win the confidence of staunch conservatives by pushing to prohibit transgender girls from competing in girls’ sports and ban “inherently divisive concepts” in school, railing against “critical race theory” — bills that did not succeed but are part of her campaign messaging.
She is facing three opponents, including Jarome Bell, a Navy veteran who ran unsuccessfully in the primary in 2020. But this year Bell has gone all-in on former president Donald Trump’s false “stolen election” narrative to find support in some of the farthest-right corners of Trump’s base, such as from Michael Flynn. The other two are military veterans Tommy Altman, a tattoo shop owner, and Andy Baan, a former prosecutor.
Voting was slow Tuesday morning at John B. Dey Elementary School in Virginia Beach, where Kiggans were on hand to greet a trickle of people arriving to cast ballots.
“When we win today, the Democrats will realize they’ve lost a seat in November,” Kiggans said. “They know this is a much more conservative district.”
Luria’s position on the Jan. 6 committee, she said, shows how out of touch she is with voters’ concerns.
“There was not a single person I talked to or a single door I knocked on where someone wanted to talk about the January 6th commission,” Kiggans said. “They want to talk about gas prices and grocery prices and the economy, the economy, the economy. They want to know what we’re going to do to lower gas prices, which really affects the price of everything.”
Kiggans said she favors reopening the Keystone Pipeline and ramping up domestic energy production.
Suzy Rydzewski, 62, said the price of gasoline tops her list of issues. “Gas is going up to $6. That’s ridiculous. I’m not going to get a battery car,” she said, leaving the Bayside Recreation Center in Virginia Beach. “There’s no point to it. They have not figured out the infrastructure.”
Rydzewski and her husband, Vince, had arrived at the wrong polling place and were headed to the correct one; he planned to vote for Kiggans, while Suzy Rydzewski said she was undecided between Kiggans and Bell.
She said she is concerned about the cost of food and what the country is doing overseas, “giving money away” to Ukraine. She described the situation at the border as “nuts.” Her late father of her retired from the military. She said both her parents of her are buried at Arlington National Cemetery. “My dad and mom are rolling around in their graves,” she said.
Virginia’s 7th is more of a “jump ball,” as one political analyst has put it. Of the six GOP candidates, three have emerged as top contenders, including state Sen. Bryce Reeves (Spotsylvania), Prince William County Board Supervisor Yesli Vega and former Green Beret Derrick Anderson.
In the final hours of the election, Vega got a boost from US Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), who has endorsed her and who appeared with her at two get-out-the-vote rallies Monday evening. Vega, the first Hispanic woman elected to the county board and co-chair on the Latinos for Youngkin Coalition, has been rising up the base with support from conservatives such as Cruz and Reps. Bob Good (Va.) and Louie Gohmert (Tex.) — while seeking to expand the tent by energizing more Hispanic voters.
“Democrats know they are losing the Hispanic vote & are scared of strong conservative Hispanic leaders like [Texas GOP congressional candidate] Cassie [Garcia] & myself who are ready to go toe to toe w/ The Squad!” she said in a monday tweet after appearing on “Fox & Friends,” referring to a group of prominent liberal lawmakers of color in Congress.
Anderson, meanwhile, has positioned himself as a political outsider, an underdog hoping to pull off an upset over the more experienced public officials after starting the race with no name recognition. The combat veteran, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, got help from Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Tex.) Sunday night, who argued in a Twitter thread that Anderson “is the only candidate that can defeat Abigail Spanberger in November” while trotting out some of the attacks that Vega and Reeves have had to defend against.
Vega lives just outside the district, though she notes that the Constitution allows people to run in any district as long as they live in the state. And Reeves has taken some heat for a bipartisan vote he took to give schools discretion to not report certain misdemeanors to police — a law that conservatives targeted while criticizing Loudoun County school officials for their mishandling of a pair of sexual assault cases.
Reeves, who condemned the Loudoun County School Board, as well, is running on his work in the state senate on veterans’ causes, gun rights and foster care, among other things, hoping voters see him as the most experienced candidate.
Spotsylvania County Board Supervisor David Ross, Stafford County Board Chairman Crystal Vanuch and former teacher Gina Ciarcia are also running.
Jim Blackburn, 77, said he was undecided when he arrived Tuesday morning at the polling place at First Mount Zion Baptist Church in Dumfries. He read over pamphlets for Vega, Ciarcia and Vanuch handed out by volunteers stationed outside the polls.
When he saw “stop voter fraud” on Vanuch’s pamphlet, he was immediately opposed, he said. “I plan to vote against Trump and anyone who stands with him,” Blackburn said, referring to the former president’s false claims of election fraud.
Ultimately, Blackburn said, he cast his vote for Vega because of her background in law enforcement and as a military wife — and because her pamphlet didn’t mention voter fraud.
“Someone who runs on voter fraud is a fraud,” Blackburn said.
On his way out of the polling place at Gar-Field Senior High School in Woodbridge, Va., Stephen Smith, 71, said he was determined by the amount of mail he received from Reeves, calling his efforts “way too much” and “ irritating.” He was also turned off by Vega, who he said seemed as though she were climbing the political ladder.
Instead, Smith said he voted for Anderson, who saw as a political newcomer with a military background who could have the potential to shake things up.
“Hopefully, he’ll be able to take his battle skills to Congress to fight for us,” said Smith, who runs a moving company.
Also at Gar-Field, Schelly Peverall came to cast a ballot for Vega with her husband and son. The Peveralls said Vega best represented their conservative values and was the candidate they thought would have the best chance to defeat Spanberger in the fall.
“Being a woman was a key issue for me,” Peverall, 60, said. “I just think that will be a better opponent.”
It was a tough decision though, Peverall said. Many of the other candidates brought the same policy stances to the table. What ultimately set Vega apart was her experience and her political background.
“In the end, I think it was Ted Cruz’s endorsement that sort of helped push me,” Peverall said.
Polls will close at 7 pm
This article will continue to be updated.
Karina Elwood in Washington and Jim Morrison in Virginia Beach contributed to this report.
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George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism