RICHMOND, Va. — Competitive U.S. House races vied for Virginia voters’ attention Tuesday along with the presidential race and a U.S. Senate seat.
In the Senate race, U.S. Sen. Mark Warner is running for reelection against Daniel Gade, a Republican challenger.
The 5th Congressional District, a reliably GOP district in the western part of the state, has been closely watched as a potential bellwether. Republican Bob Good ousted incumbent Rep. Denver Riggleman in a GOP primary, in part because of Riggleman’s support for gay marriage. Good is running against Democrat Cameron Webb, a Black doctor with a law degree, who is hoping to flip the seat in the Trump-friendly district.
The closest race may well be in the 5th District, a sprawling parcel the size of New Jersey that stretches from a tiny swath of the outer suburbs in northern Virginia through Charlottesville, all the way down to southside Virginia and the North Carolina border. The seat is open after one-term Republican Rep. Denver Riggleman lost a nominating convention to cultural conservative Good, a former athletics official at Liberty University.
The libertarian-leaning Riggleman angered the GOP base in his district by officiating a same-sex wedding. While the district leans Republican, Democrat Cameron Webb, an African American physician and political newcomer, has run a strong campaign.
Voters will also decide a referendum that puts next year’s redistricting in Virginia in the hands of a bipartisan commission. If successful, the commission of citizens and legislators will redraw the state’s congressional and General Assembly districts to conform with the 2020 Census.
Much is different this election, thanks in large part to the coronavirus pandemic and new voting laws that made it easier to vote early. More than 2.7 million voters have already cast ballots, which is more than two-thirds of the total overall voter turnout from four years ago in Virginia.
Two of the state’s competitive House seats were flipped from Republican to Democratic in 2018 amid a “blue wave.” Those contests are a test of whether the trend has staying power.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger is working to fend off Republican challenger Nick Freitas in the 7th Congressional District, a Richmond-area seat, while Democratic Rep. Elaine Luria is in a rematch with Republican former Rep. Scott Taylor for a Hampton Roads-seat in the 2nd Congressional District. Spanberger and Luria are part of a group of moderate Democrats who came to Congress with deep military and intelligence experience. Their credentials were instrumental in pushing the House to impeach Trump over allegations that he pressured Ukraine to investigate Biden.
The polls open at 6 am and close at 7 pm.