RICHMOND, Va. — Three special elections to fill Virginia’s Senate and House seats Tuesday will determine whether Democrats or Republicans take control of the statehouse in Republican Glenn Youngkin’s final year as governor.
In northern Loudoun County, Republican Tumay Harding and Del. Kannan Srinivasan is vying to replace Democrat Suhas Subramanyam in the state Senate when the Democrat was elected to the U.S. House in November. Also on the ballot are Democrat JJ Singh and Republican Ram Venkatachalam, vying to replace Srinivasan in the state House of Representatives after he vacated his seat to run for a special Senate election.
In central Goochland County, Republican Luther Cifers is up against Democrat Jack Trammell, a college professor, in a state Senate race. They are expected to succeed U.S. Rep. John McGuire, who won Virginia’s 5th Congressional District after defeating former U.S. Rep. Bob Good by less than one percentage point in a bitter primary that led to a recount in August.
The special election is being watched closely by outside observers to gauge voter mood after November’s presidential race, with many Democrats counting on the party’s losses in federal elections. In Virginia, Senate Democrats hold a narrow 20-18 majority since the resignations of McGuire and Subramanyam, and the special election is key to the party’s bid to retain its majority in both chambers. In the House of Representatives, Democrats have a 50-49 lead after Srinivasan’s departure.
Srinivasan, the first Indian-American immigrant elected to the Virginia House of Representatives, and Singh, a Virginia native and the son of Indian immigrants, are expected to hold on to the Democratic seats, where data shows Vice Speaker Kamala Harris received 57 percent. A vote on his failed bid against President-elect Donald Trump. Singh and Srinivasan have largely focused their campaigns on abortion rights in Virginia. It comes as state Democrats are working to get a constitutional right to abortion in the state.
“What motivates me is the high-stakes election,” Srinivasan said. “The majority of the Senate is at stake. The amendment of the Constitution is underway.”
Harding, the daughter of Turkish Uzbek immigrants, and Venkatachalam, an Indian American immigrant, are aiming to flip the Senate and House seats for Democrats. Both candidates, who ran unsuccessfully for the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors in 2023, have focused their statewide campaigns on partisan lines such as parental rights, crime and the economy.
“Our schools are in shambles and riddled with politics and division, our neighbors have become victims of crime by illegal immigrants, and our families are struggling to pay for groceries, gas and housing,” Harding said as she launched her campaign. “This can all change if we win this election and give Governor Youngkin a new Senate majority.”
In the state’s 10th Senate District, conservatives are lining up behind Cifers to succeed McGuire after a long run. multiple-vote primaries among Republican voters last month Cifers, a Prince Edward County resident and president of a kayak business in Virginia, said he never considered running for office, but wanted to bring a different perspective to the legislature, especially on housing and the economy.
“I’m much more concerned with doing the right thing, making sure we’re constitutionally sound and respecting the will of the voters before I’m really interested in getting into party politics,” Cifers said.
Trammell, who ran unsuccessfully for the 7th U.S. House district in 2014, hopes to flip the Republican stronghold that supported Trump by more than 25 points in November, according to the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project. Trammell said he decided to run for office in part because he believes his community should have a competitive election process.
“There are factors that are transforming the 10th district,” he said. “To call a monolithic, traditional, rural Republican district is a slight disservice to the people who live there, work there and are now raising families.”
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Olivia Diaz is a member of The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative team. Report for America is a national nonprofit service program that places reporters in local newsrooms to report on undercover issues.
