Fairfax County voters will head to the polls Tuesday (Aug. 4) to cast their votes in Democratic and Republican primaries, which will determine nominees for the 2026 midterms.
Polls will be open between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. Tuesday. Voters are not registered by party in Virginia, so they can choose to vote in either the Democratic or Republican primary. As of Aug. 1, Fairfax County has over 817,000 registered voters.
The U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division will be sending election monitors to Fairfax County for the primaries. Fairfax County Office of Elections spokesperson Sean Stewart previously told FFXnow the DOJ sought information on the county’s bilingual election program, which assists voters whose primary language is Spanish or Vietnamese, as required by the Voting Rights Act.
The only Democratic primary in Fairfax County is in the 8th Congressional District. Candidates include incumbent Rep. Don Beyer (D-8), former Alexandria City Council Member Mo Seifeldein, fired State Department worker Michael Duffin, veteran and former CIA officer Adam Dunigan and military family advocate Lorena Bruner. The Democratic primary winner will face Republican Tony Sabio in the Nov. 3 general election.
In the 10th and 11th Congressional Districts, Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-10) and Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-11) are the nominees who will move on to the general election.
Republican primaries include a U.S. Senate seat and the 10th Congressional District. Voters in the 8th and 11th Congressional Districts will only have the Republican U.S. Senate primary.
The Republican primary for U.S. Senate will determine a nominee to face Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), who is running for a fifth term as Virginia’s senior senator. Republican primary candidates are retired Army Maj. Gen. Bert Mizusawa, former federal employee and tech executive Kim Farington and veteran and former CIA officer David Williams. Warner will face the Republican nominee on Nov. 3.
Republican candidates seeking to challenge Subramanyam in the 10th Congressional District are former Pentagon official and Air Force veteran Dave Beckwith; Anthony Suttles, who has experience in national security and economics; and Fairfax County teacher Julie Perry.
According to the Virginia Public Access Project, the 8th and 11th Congressional Districts are strongly Democratic, while the 10th leans Democratic.
On Election Day, voters can head to their assigned polling place between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. Voters can confirm their polling place on the Virginia Department of Elections citizen portal.
At the polling place, voters must present an accepted form of ID, such as a Virginia driver’s license, voter confirmation documents, U.S. passport, employee photo ID or student ID. Voters without an acceptable ID may sign an ID confirmation statement — if they do not, they will cast a provisional ballot verified post-election. Under Virginia code, first-time voters who registered by mail are required to provide an ID when voting in a federal election.
The deadline to register to vote or update voter registration was July 24, as well as the deadline to request a mail-in ballot. Same-day registration is offered through Aug. 4 to let new voters cast a provisional ballot that is verified post-election night.
Aug. 1 was the last day of early in-person voting, and mail ballots can be submitted until 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 4. Mail-in ballots can be returned by mail (postmarked by Aug. 4 and received by noon Aug. 7) or drop box. A secure outdoor drop box is available 24/7 before 7 p.m. Aug. 4 in front of the Fairfax County Government Center. Ballot drop boxes will also be offered at all polling places, from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Aug. 4.
After polls close at 7 p.m., unofficial results will be tallied on the Virginia Department of Elections website. Election results will be certified by state and local electoral boards in the weeks following the election.
For more information about voting, visit www.fairfaxcounty.gov/elections.
