Virginians will head to the ballot boxes on Tuesday to make their voices heard in the Old Dominion’s 2026 primary elections.
The state’s election schedule was upended by Democrats’ proposed redistricting measure, which pushed back primaries from mid-June to Aug. 4, but the new map ultimately failed to take effect.
When the state Supreme Court struck down Virginia’s redistricting referendum, dozens of candidates who had campaigned in the gerrymandered districts had to course correct, as the state returned to its initial congressional map for the 2026 election cycle.
As a state with an off-year major state election cycle, Virginia’s 2026 elections have been heavily dominated by congressional races. One of Virginia’s U.S. Senate seats is also on the ballot, with three Republicans vying to unseat incumbent Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA).
Here’s which primary races to pay the most attention to on Tuesday.
Democratic primaries to determine challengers to GOP’s Wittman and Kiggans
Virginia’s 1st and 2nd congressional districts are holding multi-candidate Democratic primaries on Tuesday, as several Democrats seek to challenge incumbent Reps. Rob Wittman (R-VA) and Jen Kiggans (R-VA). Wittman and Kiggans are each endorsed by President Donald Trump.
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In the 1st District, situated near the center of the state, surrounding Richmond, seven Democrats are competing to advance to the general election against nine-term incumbent Wittman.
Shannon Taylor, the Commonwealth’s Attorney for Henrico County, boasts the cash advantage and establishment backing in the race. Taylor has notched endorsements from Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) and each of the Democratic members of Virginia’s sitting U.S. Senate and House delegations. She is running on an anti-corruption, political reform agenda.
Taylor recently lost the 2025 Democratic Attorney General primary to current state Attorney General Jay Jones by 2.2 percentage points.
But each of Taylor’s Democratic opponents has taken issue with the state Democratic Party’s claim that it remains neutral in the primary. Reporting from the Virginia Mercury suggests the party is running into conflict-of-interest issues, which the party denies.
Also in the field with Taylor are Army veteran Elizabeth Dempsey Beggs, public-interest attorney Salaam Bhatti, Navy veteran Jason Knapp, political organizer Tim Cywinski, healthcare lawyer Ericka Kopp, and veteran business lawyer Mel Tull. All are running on the more anti-establishment wave of the Democratic Party.
In Virginia’s 2nd District, a general election match-up between Kiggans and former Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA), who used to hold Kiggans’s seat before the decade-turn redistricting, is likely to tee up again if Luria can pull out a primary win.
Luria boasts significant name recognition in southeastern Virginia from her time in the lower chamber, plus a massive cash advantage over her Democratic primary opponents. Former USAID worker Patrick Mosolf, physician Nila Devanath, and conservationist Bill Fleming are running against Luria to take on Kiggans in November.
Kiggan’s district is deemed a toss-up by Cook Political Report, while Wittman’s leans Republican.
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GOP primary to determine challenger to Vindman
Three Republicans are competing to take on incumbent Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-VA) in November: entrepreneur Philip Harding, Army veteran and consultant Doug Ollivant, and pastor Ricky Smithers.
Harding leads the GOP pack in fundraising, with over $87,000 in cash on hand, while Ollivant boasts the second-most, with over $65,000. Their funds are both still far from incumbent Vindman’s war chest, which sits at over $6.57 million.
While each candidate is running on affordability topics like expanding jobs and housing in the district, Harding is prioritizing business-focused and debt-reduction issues. Smithers has discussed how his background as a pastor informed his choice to run on the basis that “Virginia deserves leadership built on faith in God, honesty, and real hard work.” Ollivant has prioritized issues like advancing affordable energy, a strong agricultural system, and a “pro-family, pro-business, pro-worker” community.
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The outcome of the Republican primary could have a key impact on the GOP’s chance of success in November against Vindman, who took over the district in 2024 when then-Rep. Spanberger decided to run for governor.
The race currently sits in the “Likely Democrat” forecasted category and was carried by Spanberger in the 2025 gubernatorial election by over 14 percentage points. However, Vindman had a close contest against his 2024 general election challenger, GOP Army veteran Derrick Anderson, besting the now-Pentagon official by just 2.7 percentage points.
Republican race to determine challenger to Warner
Warner, a three-term senator, cruised through the primary season with no Democratic challengers this year, marking the fourth U.S. Senate election in which the Virginia political titan has run unopposed.
There are three Republicans competing in the GOP primary to see who will face off against Warner on the November ballot.
Retired Major Army General Bert Mizusawa has the most amount of cash on hand of the three GOP candidates, clocking in with nearly $53,000 in cash on hand at the end of the second quarter, per the FEC. His main priorities highlighted in his platform include reigning in national spending, simplifying the tax code, defending the military and Second Amendment, promoting nuclear energy, and securing the border.
Kim Farrington, an accountant who has touted her work reforming federal spending to save taxpayer dollars, highlights tackling the national debt and rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse as her top priority. She lists defending the Second Amendment and helping grow small businesses as her second and third priorities if elected.
Lieutenant Colonel of the Marine Corps Reserves, Iraq combat veteran, and former CIA case officer David Williams is also running for the Republican nomination. Williams’s platform is based on restoring law and order, school choice, cutting wasteful government spending, and expanding the American dream.
Farrington and Williams each have just over $16,000 and $7,000 in cash on hand, respectively, according to FEC filings.
Each of the GOP candidates has a lot of ground to make up if they want to compete fundraising-wise with Warner, who has over $16 million in the bank.
Cook Political Report lists the general election race as a solid Democratic seat, citing Spanberger’s double-digit win statewide last year. Warner won his last election in 2020 by a 12.1-percentage-point margin.
Intra-party challengers to Reps. Beyer and McGuire
Six-term Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) is facing four Democratic primary challengers, which is the highest number of candidates he has faced in a primary election since he first ran for his Northern Virginia seat in 2014.
Taking on Beyer in the 8th Congressional District primary is former State Department official Michael Duffin, former federal attorney Mo Seifeldein, former CIA case officer and Marine Veteran Adam Dunigan, and Democratic activist Lorena Bruner. Duffin, Seifeldein, and Dunigan were all either laid off or resigned from their federal government careers under the Trump administration, and they are fighting for federal workforce protections as part of their campaigns.
Dunigan and Seifeldein each have over $23,000 and $17,000 in the bank, respectively, leading the primary challengers, while incumbent Beyer has the overall cash advantage with over $838,000.
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Beyer’s district is deep-blue, meaning whoever wins the Democratic primary is likely a shoo-in to defeat GOP nominee Tony Sabio in November.
In Virginia’s 5th Congressional District, incumbent, Trump-endorsed Rep. John McGuire (R-VA) is being challenged by real estate agent Melanie Lucero. McGuire ousted the red district’s previous incumbent, former Rep. Bob Good (R-VA), in 2024 with the backing of Trump that year as well.