Downtown
Primary Results: Northam faces Gillespie, Fairfax versus Vogel, upset for Sheriff C.T. Woody
Ralph Northam (D) will face Ed Gillespie (R) on the ballot for governor this November; Justin Fairfax (D) takes on Jill Vogel (R); a look at local House, Sheriff, and Board of Supervisors races, and the noticeable gap in turnout by party.
Governor
Democrat Ralph Northam will face Republican Ed Gillespie on the ballot in the race for governor this November following yesterday’s statewide primaries. With 100% of precincts reporting, Northam handily bested Tom Perriello with just under 56% of the vote. In the Republican primary, Ed Gillespie edged out Corey Stewart by a margin of just 5,000 votes. Gillespie garnered 160,000 votes; Stewart, who had still refused to concede at press time, took home just over 155,000.
Lieutenant Governor
In the race for lieutenant governor, Justin Fairfax took the spot on the Democratic ballot, easily winning against Susan Platt by a margin of 10%, bringing in 49% of the vote.
Notable gap in turnout by party
Interestingly, the statewide turnout gap between the Democratic and Republican primaries was massive–Democrats turned out in roughly twice the numbers of their Republican counterparts at the polls. As visualized below by local political wonk Taber Bain, the top two GOP finishers combined garnered only around 8,000 more votes than winning Democratic candidate Ralph Northam (data visualization produced with 98.8% of precincts reporting Tuesday evening).
Image: Taber Bain
Local races
Locally, Richmond Sheriff C.T. Woody, Jr. was ousted from serving another term by newcomer Antionette V. Irving by a margin of just 820 votes–Irving received 51% or 13,586.
Democrat Dawn Adams swept Mary Jo Sheeley, winning 23 of 26 precincts in the 68th House District race:
| Dawn M. Adams | 2,676 | 50.04% |
| Mary Jo Sheeley | 2,053 | 38.39% |
| Ben J. Pearson-Nelson | 619 | 11.57% |
In the 70th District, incumbent Delores McQuinn beat out challenger Alex Mejias by a 69% to 31% margin:
| Alexander W. Mejias | 644 | 30.83% |
| Delores L. McQuinn | 1,445 | 69.17% |
The race for Treasurer in the City of Richmond was won by Nichole Ona Armstead, who bested Tavarris J. Spinks by a margin of almost 12%:
| Tavarris J. Spinks | 11,616 | 45.91% |
| Nichole Ona R. Armstead | 13,685 | 54.09% |
In Henrico County, the Brookland District Board of Supervisors race, which will see the replacement of late Supervisor Richard W. “Dick” Glover, Republican Bob Witte took home 51% of the vote, 12% ahead of runner up Benjamin Dessart.
