Search
State Sen. Ghazala Hashmi wins Democratic primary for lieutenant governor
State Sen. Ghazala Hashmi has won the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor, defeating five other candidates in the field. By 11 p.m. Tuesday, Hashmi had won 27.49% of the vote, according to the Virginia elections website. Hashmi was neck and neck for much of the night with fellow frontrunners Levar Stoney and Aaron Rouse, who won 26.65% and 26.16% of the vote, respectively. Hashmi released a statement to X, saying, in part, she is honored to stand alongside Democratic nominee for governor Abigail Spanberger and Jay Jones, who won the Democratic nomination for attorney general.
Chatham session gathers input on environmental impacts of Southgate pipeline
Federal regulators hosted a community input session Monday evening on the environmental impacts of Mountain Valley Pipeline’s amended Southgate project. In February, the pipeline sought to amend the project to construct a shorter route that starts in Chatham and goes into North Carolina. The tweaked version shortens what was a 75-mile extension of the Mountain Valley Pipeline to only 31 miles.
Chesterfield would restrict data center development under latest zoning update proposal
Chesterfield officials are now eyeing new restrictions on data center development as part of an in-progress zoning ordinance overhaul. If approved, data centers would be strictly a conditional use in Chesterfield. Currently, data centers can be built by-right in some zoning districts, meaning that they don’t require a review by the Board of Supervisors to be built under those areas’ current zoning. By making data center development a conditional use, all such projects everywhere in Chesterfield would need case-by-case zoning approval by county supervisors moving forward.
Jay Jones wins Democratic nomination for attorney general
Former Del. Jay Jones, D-Norfolk, clinched the Democratic nomination for attorney general on Tuesday, four years after losing a primary battle against then-Attorney General Mark Herring and then resigning his House of Delegates to attend to the birth of his first child. Jones, 36, who served in the House from 2018 to 2021, defeated Henrico County Commonwealth's Attorney Shannon Taylor, 57, by about 9,500 votes or 2 percentage points.
McQuinn to return to House; Dems line up November House challenges
Democrats on Tuesday all but completed their lineup for three Richmond-area races that are key to their hopes to expand their House of Delegates 51-49 majority, while Del. Delores McQuinn, D-Henrico, fended off a challenge from Henrico School Board member Alicia Atkins. Besides the three races where Democrats hope to unseat Republicans in the Richmond suburbs, Democrats also vied for the chance to flip a district in Suffolk and Chesapeake, while Republicans eyed Democratic seats in Prince William County and Virginia Beach.
Hamilton defeats Jackson in 62nd House District Republican primary
Business owner Karen Hamilton bested Clay Jackson, a farmer and former Madison County supervisor, in the race for the Republican nomination in the House of Delegates' 62 District Tuesday. The Republican-friendly 62nd District includes Greene, Madison and parts of Culpeper and Orange counties. With all precincts reporting, Hamilton claimed over 58% of the vote to Jackson's nearly 42% (2,125 votes to 1,525). 551 early votes were outstanding around 9:15 p.m., according to the Virginia Public Access Project.
Richmond voters rebuke Stoney as Hashmi declares victory in Democratic lieutenant governor race
A Richmond-area politician appeared to win the lieutenant governor spot on Virginia’s statewide Democratic ticket in Tuesday’s elections. But it wasn’t former Mayor Levar Stoney. State Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, D-Chesterfield, declared victory Tuesday night after an unpredictable six-way primary to earn the right to run alongside gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger in the fall. “Tonight we've made history yet again, not just by winning this primary, but by declaring with one voice that Virginia is not going to be bullied or broken or dragged backwards by the chaos that's unfolding in Washington,” Hashmi told her supporters at an election night party in Richmond’s Fan District.
In Virginia Democratic primary, Jay Jones wins AG nod, lieutenant governor race too close to call
Statewide races for lieutenant governor and attorney general in the Virginia Democratic primary were very tight, with just a few thousand votes separating the candidates. According to unofficial results, former Del. Jerrauld “Jay” Jones narrowly clinched the party’s nomination for lieutenant governor, with a 1% lead over Henrico Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor. The Associated Press called the race just before 10 p.m. with an estimated 95% of the vote counted.
5 takeaways from Virginia’s primary election results
The political spotlight this year is on Virginia, which kicked off its statewide election cycle on Tuesday as voters around the state cast their ballots in primary races that determine this fall’s closely-watched battle for the top posts in Richmond. ... “The old saying that all politics is local doesn't really apply in Virginia in 2025,” said Stephen Farnsworth, a political scientist at the University of Mary Washington. “Even though Donald Trump's name is not on the ballot, the president will be at the center of these conversations.” He added that the primary appeared to be largely determined by suburban women and Black voters in the Hampton Roads region ...
With federal funding uncertain, Va. faces $8 million gap for attendance, teacher retention programs
Virginia could be on the hook for $8 million to cover two initiatives to address student attendance and teacher retention if the federal government denies the commonwealth’s appeals, House lawmakers learned on Monday. The Virginia Department of Education, along with 14 school divisions and the Department of Juvenile Justice, filed appeals after being informed that the deadline for spending all allocated funds was abruptly moved to March 28 of this year. The original deadline had been set for March 2026. VDOE’s two appeals focused on the state’s Attendance Data Dashboard, designed to combat chronic absenteeism, and Grow Your Own, a program to support teacher apprenticeship pipelines.