RICHMOND, Va. — Three particular elections happening on Tuesday to fill seats within the Virginia Senate and Home of Delegates will decide whether or not Democrats or Republicans have management of the Statehouse in Republican Glenn Youngkin’s ultimate yr as governor.
In northern Loudoun County, Republican Tumay Harding and Democrat Del. Kannan Srinivasan are vying to succeed Suhas Subramanyam within the state Senate after the Democrat was elected to the U.S. Home in November. Additionally on the poll are Democrat JJ Singh and Republican Ram Venkatachalam, who’re racing to exchange Srinivasan within the state Home of Delegates after he vacated his seat to run within the particular Senate election.
In central Goochland County, Republican Luther Cifers is up in opposition to Democrat Jack Trammell, a university professor, in a state Senate race. They hope to succeed U.S. Rep. John McGuire, who clinched Virginia’s fifth Congressional District after narrowly defeating former U.S. Rep. Bob Good by lower than a proportion level in a bitter main, which led to a recount in August.
The particular elections are being intently watched by exterior observers to gauge voters’ moods after November’s presidential race, which left many Democrats reckoning with the get together’s losses in federal elections. In Virginia, Senate Democrats have a slim 20-18 majority since McGuire and Subramanyam’s resignations, making the particular elections key to the get together’s efforts to protect a majority in each chambers. Within the Home of Delegates, Democrats have a 50-49 lead following Srinivasan’s departure.
Srinivasan, the primary Indian American immigrant elected to the Virginia Home of Delegates, and Singh, a Virginia native and the son of Indian immigrants, are hoping to carry the Democratic seats inside a county the place information exhibits that Vice President Kamala Harris acquired 57% of the vote in her failed bid in opposition to President-elect Donald Trump. Each Singh and Srinivasan have largely centered their campaigns round abortion rights in Virginia. It comes at a time when state Democrats are working to enshrine a constitutional proper to an abortion within the state.
“What motivates me is the high-stakes election,” Srinivasan mentioned. “The Senate majority is on the road. The constitutional modification is on the road.”
Harding, the daughter of Turkish Uzbek immigrants and Venkatachalam, an Indian American immigrant, purpose to flip the senate and home seats from Democrats. Each candidates, who every unsuccessfully ran for the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors in 2023, have centered their state campaigns alongside get together strains, comparable to dad and mom’ rights, crime and the financial system.
“Our faculties are faltering and riddled with politics and division, our neighbors have been made victims of unlawful migrant crime, and our households are struggling to afford groceries, gasoline, and housing,” Harding mentioned in a press release when launching her marketing campaign. “All of this might change if we win this election and provides Governor Youngkin a brand new majority within the Senate.”
Within the tenth State Senate district, conservatives are placing their weight behind Cifers to succeed McGuire following a prolonged, multi-ballot primary among Republican voters final month. Cifers, a Prince Edward County resident and president of a Virginia kayaking enterprise, mentioned he by no means envisioned himself working for workplace however wished to deliver a distinct perspective to the legislature, notably concerning housing and the financial system.
“I’m rather more involved about doing the correct factor, ensuring that we’re constitutionally minded and respecting the desire of the voters earlier than I’m tremendous excited about stepping into get together politics,” Cifers mentioned.
Trammell, who unsuccessfully ran for the seventh U.S. Home District in 2014, is hoping to flip the Republican stronghold, which supported Trump by greater than 25 factors in November, based on the nonpartisan Virginia Public Entry Venture. Trammell mentioned he partly determined to run for workplace as a result of he believed his group ought to have a aggressive electoral course of.
“There are elements which can be reworking District 10,” he mentioned. “To name it a monolithic, traditional-rural Republican district is somewhat little bit of a disservice to the people who find themselves really dwelling there, working there and elevating households there now.”
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Olivia Diaz is a corps member for The Related Press/Report for America Statehouse Information Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit nationwide service program that locations journalists in native newsrooms to report on undercovered points.
