Virginia Political Update: Primaries and Legislative Turnover
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The Virginia political world is gearing up for expensive, high-stakes legislative elections this November. All 100 seats in the House of Delegates and all 40 seats in the Virginia Senate will be up for election. Partisan control of each chamber is expected to come down to just a few seats.
Many races include competitive primaries to choose each party’s nominee. Most nomination contests will be decided during primary elections on June 20 (early voting began on Friday, May 5), though some nominees will be chosen during conventions in the coming weeks.
It is already clear that the General Assembly is facing a level of turnover not witnessed in modern Virginia history. In total, the General Assembly is expected to lose around one-third of its members, totaling more than 500 years of experience.
Eleven members of the 40-member Senate announced they would not seek reelection in 2023. This includes the Senate Majority and Minority leaders, seven of the sixteen members of the Senate Finance Committee, and six of the seven longest serving senators. Additionally, Richmond area Senator Jennifer McClellan (D-Richmond) is now representing Virginia’s Fourth Congressional District in Congress after winning a special election following the death of Rep. Donald McEachin (D-VA). She has since been succeeded by former delegate and now Senator Lamont Bagby (D-Henrico).
In the House of Delegates, 13 members are running for Senate, while another 18 announced their retirement, including the longest serving delegate, Ken Plum (D-Fairfax), and former Speaker of the House Eileen Filler-Corn (D-Fairfax). This means the House of Delegates will have at least 31 new members, and the final count will likely be higher.
This will be the first election cycle using new districts created by the Supreme Court of Virginia after the state’s redistricting commission failed to reach agreement on new maps. The districts were created without consideration of current legislators, meaning that in many instances two or more current legislators were drawn into the same district, and many legislators are running in districts where at least part of the area in their district is one they have not previously represented.
Polarizing issues and intense political rhetoric are shaping primaries and nominating contests throughout the Commonwealth as a new generation of activists and community leaders are running for the General Assembly. In many cases, these candidates reflect emerging national attitudes and trends that seem to deepen the political chasm between the two major parties.
