Early voting in Virginia’s 2025 Democratic primary begins tomorrow (Friday), officially kicking off the party’s bid to retake statewide seats that were swept by Republicans in 2021.
Rep. Abigail Spanberger has already secured the gubernatorial nomination, setting up a historic race with Republican nominee and current Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears that will give Virginia its first-ever female governor.
With Springfield District Supervisor Pat Herrity withdrawing for health reasons, the GOP has backed conservative radio host John Reid for lieutenant governor and incumbent Jason Miyares for attorney general. Reid has clashed with Gov. Glenn Youngkin, alleging that the governor’s team is extorting him to drop out over sexually explicit images on a Tumblr account because he’s gay.
The candidates
While they haven’t attracted that level of controversy so far, the Democratic races for lieutenant governor and attorney general remain wide open.
In the order they will appear on the ballot, the candidates seeking to win the lieutenant governor nomination in the upcoming June primary are:
- Former Richmond mayor Levar Stoney
- Prince William County School Board Chair Babur Lateef
- State Sen. Aaron Rouse, who represents Virginia Beach in the 22nd District
- Former federal prosecutor and Georgetown University law professor Victor Salgado, who lives in Arlington
- State Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, who represents the 15th District with parts of Chesterfield County and Richmond City
- Former labor union leader and employment attorney Alexander Bastani
As of the end of March, Stoney, Rouse and Hashmi were leading the six-way field in fundraising, all reporting over $1 million, according to campaign finance records tracked by the Virginia Public Access Project (VPAP). Though Stoney reported the most funds raised at $1.4 million, Rouse has the most cash on hand with $925,949.
In the attorney general race, Henrico County Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor and former Norfolk state delegate Jay Jones are vying for the opportunity to challenge Miyares. For Jones, this is his second campaign to become the state’s top prosecutor after he lost a primary to then-incumbent Mark Herring in 2021.
Jones has raised $1.8 million and has over $1.4 million in cash available, giving him a comfortable financial advantage over Taylor’s $1 million in raised funds and $666,324 in cash on hand, per VPAP.
Where to go for early voting
Fairfax County will open three sites for in-person early voting tomorrow, starting at 8 a.m. with the Fairfax County Government Center (12000 Government Center Parkway) in rooms 2 and 3.
The Mount Vernon (2511 Parkers Lane, Alexandria) and North County governmental centers (1801 Cameron Glen Drive, Reston) will also open tomorrow at 1 p.m.
With the exception of Memorial Day (Monday, May 26), early voting will be available on weekdays at the county government center from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and at the Mount Vernon and North County sites from 1-7 p.m.
Another 13 early voting sites will become available on weekdays from 1-7 p.m. starting June 7:
- Libraries: Burke Centre, Centreville Regional, Great Falls, Herndon Fortnightly, Tysons-Pimmit and Thomas Jefferson
- Community centers: Franconia, Lorton, Mason, McLean, Sully, West Springfield and Jim Scott
At that point, early voting will also expand to Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at all locations.
All early voting sites will have drop boxes where voters can submit ballots they received by mail.
The county will begin mailing out ballots tomorrow, though the deadline to apply to vote by mail in the June primary isn’t until 5 p.m. on Friday, June 6. Mailed ballots must be returned to the Fairfax County Office of Elections by noon on the Friday after the election to be counted.
The election for the Democratic primary will be held on Tuesday, June 17. Same-day voter registration will be permitted at all early voting locations starting three weeks before the election.
