Tuesday’s special election in Virginia could provide an early look at the governor’s race, the 2026 midterm elections.
Three extraordinary elections Tuesday in Virginia will give Americans their first look at suburban voting trends for the 2025 gubernatorial election and 2026 midterm elections.
Last cycle’s federal election shakeup in once-deep-red Loudoun County prompted two state lawmakers to vacate their seats and announce bids for the next legislative level above them.
Loudoun, halfway between Charles Town, West Virginia, and Washington, DC, has been blue in recent years due to suburban sprawl as liberal Washingtonians leave the District of Columbia — and has been the epicenter of national controversies over transgender policies and school shootings .
In addition, the upset of now-former U.S. Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., in Lynchburg set the stage for a third special election as Democrats control the Virginia state Senate by a single vote amid Republicans. Glenn Youngkin’s Governorship.
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While Democrats appear to be favored in a pair of Loudoun races, political observers are counting on Republicans’ performance in the albeit usually low voter turnout as a sign of things to come after Youngkin is term-limited later this year.
Virginia and New Jersey — two states where President-elect Trump and the GOP outperformed but still lost — hosting an odd-year gubernatorial election that the mogul’s 2024 performance has already heralded as must-watch.
Youngkin’s performance in Loudoun and other blue counties didn’t win him outright in those areas, but he drew enough votes from former Gov. Terry McAuliffe to pull off a major statewide upset in 2021.
The GOP is hoping for a similar performance this fall, and a win in both Loudoun’s Senate seats and one in the Southside would shift control of the House to Republicans.
A Republican victory in the delegate seat would also lead to a tied House, knocking out the Democrats the only leadership. A GOP sweep would give the party total control in Richmond not seen since George W. Bush was president.
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Virginia State Capitol in Richmond (AP Photo/Steve Helber, file)
Youngkin told Fox News Digital on Friday that he is optimistic about the Republicans’ chances on Tuesday, saying that two Loudoun candidates in particular have a chance to build on what he has long called Virginia’s success story:
“Tumay Harding and Ram Venkatachalam are common-sense conservative leaders who will be incredible partners in our work to provide further tax relief for Virginia families, tackle the most hated car tax, protect our communities from dangerous sanctuary city policies, and keep parents at the head of the table in their lives their children,” Youngkin said.
“I look forward to getting together with Tumay, Ram and the Virginians who are ready to bring strong representation to Loudoun County in Richmond.”
Delegate Kannan Srinivasan, D-Brambleton, has announced a bid to succeed U.S. Rep. Suhas Subramanyama, D-Va., after the latter won the vacancy of retiring Rep. Jennifer Wexton, D-Va.
This left Srinivasan’s seat in the House of Delegates vacant.
Venkatachalam, an Indian immigrant and IT professional for Deloitte, highlighted on his campaign page his positions on several Loudoun community boards and his focus on lowering taxes and increasing public safety.
Singh, a former adviser to Delaware Sen. Christopher Coons and a Peace Corps veteran, is the Democratic candidate.
“Voters are going through a range of emotions after Trump won the election – there’s anger, frustration, disappointment, sadness,” Singh he told Politico.
“But when you say the stakes of this special election … the enthusiasm skyrockets.”
On the other hand, Srinivasan — then Gov. Ralph Northam’s appointee to the state Medicaid board — faces Harding, a teacher and small business owner, for an open state Senate seat that surrounds John Foster Dulles International Airport.
Apply at the Loudoun County line. (Getty)
In Southside Virginia, with Rep-elect. After Rep. John McGuire, R-Va., ousted Good from his congressional seat, his heavily Republican Senate district became vacant.
The sprawling district, which covers all or parts of nearly a dozen counties between Interstate 64 and US-460, includes a diverse mix of Richmond suburbs, iconic Civil War sites and farmland.
Professor Jack Trammell of Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia, is a Democrat facing Republican Luther Cifers.
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Cifers, who grew up in a farming area outside of Amelia Court House, Virginia, and now owns a company specializing in kayaking and fishing products, is heavily favored based on historical data.
“I’m not a politician, but I believe our government works best when working citizens participate,” Cifers said in a statement on his website.
Meanwhile, Trammell said in a statement released by The Henrico Democrats that he and his volunteers were “out across the county talking to voters at events, on their front porches and on the phone.”
