RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – A number of Virginia incumbents prevailed over challengers in Tuesday’s primary election, but two of the state’s most controversial political figures, Democratic Sen. Joe Morrissey and Republican Sen. Amanda Chase, lose his party’s nomination.
Morrissey, a political centrist and increasingly rare Democrat who supports limits on abortion access, lost to former state lawmaker Lashrecse Aird, who focused her campaign on her unapologetic support and “100 %” to abortion rights.
“Joe’s been here too long. It’s time for new blood,” said Gail Coleman, 62, who voted for Aird Tuesday afternoon in suburban Richmond.
Chase, a right-wing brand who has served in the Senate since 2016 and accepted falsehoods about the 2020 presidential election, was bested by Glen Sturtevant, a lawyer and former House member seeking a political comeback in the red suburb of Richmond . district
Dozens of other races took place across the state, including in some swing districts that will help determine the balance of power in the General Assembly in the general election. Virginia, where the Legislature is currently divided politically, is one of the few states that holds its legislative races in odd-numbered years. With its unusual schedule and near-swing statehood, the state’s results are often watched closely for clues to voter sentiment heading into next year’s midterm or presidential cycle.
Both parties and both chambers had competitive contests on the ballot, and an unusually high number of incumbents faced serious challenges in an election season disrupted by new political maps.
This year is the first cycle in which candidates are running for the legislature in districts created during the redistricting process that ended in late 2021. The new maps were drawn by outside experts without regard for incumbent protection. That has contributed to a wave of retirements by many of the General Assembly’s veteran lawmakers and diminished the name recognition advantage for incumbents, some of whom were running in almost entirely new districts.
The losses of Chase and Morrissey will add to the already high turnover.
In another high-profile race, Democrat L. Louise Lucas, a veteran lawmaker, unseated another incumbent, Sen. Lionell Spruill. The race for the heavily Democratic Hampton Roads seat was one of only two that featured incumbents from the same chamber facing off. It was marked by particularly sharp personal attacks launched on social media and in TV commercials.
Lucas, who has served in the Senate since 1992, campaigned as a fighter. He donned boxing gloves in some ads, promising to take on Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
“MOM SAID YOU’RE KNOCKED OUT!” she tweeted.
In a contentious Republican race for a southwestern Virginia House seat, freshman Del. Wren Williams defeated his partner Del. Marie March. In northern Virginia, former CIA officer Russet Perry clinched the Democratic nomination in a Senate seat expected to be a key battleground in the general election.
Elsewhere, incumbents easily beat challengers. Democratic Sen. Lamont Bagby handily defeated Katie Gooch in a Richmond-area race, and Sen. Dave Marsden defeated Heidi Drauschak, who was backed by the advocacy group Clean Virginia.
In a seat anchored in Charlottesville, Democratic Sen. Creigh Deeds fended off a spirited challenge from House Rep. Sally Hudson. Deeds, a respected advocate for mental health issues, campaigned as a pragmatic progressive, arguing that his experience and connections in Richmond would be a boon to his constituents, an argument echoed by other incumbents.
Other competitive contests had not yet been called as of Tuesday afternoon, including showdowns in northern Virginia pitting Democratic incumbents against progressive challengers. Senators George Barker, Jeremy McPike and Chap Petersen were considered to have some degree of vulnerability.
Among Republicans, Chase was the only Senate incumbent facing a challenge Tuesday. She campaigned as a champion of gun rights and other conservative values. He also persistently repeated former President Donald Trump’s falsehoods about widespread fraud in the 2020 election.
Although Chase had campaigned with Youngkin after unsuccessfully seeking the party’s nomination for governor in 2021, Youngkin did not endorse her in the race. He also did not participate in an eight-game Senate contest in the Shenandoah Valley won by farmer Timmy French.
But the night went particularly well for other candidates the governor endorsed. All seven voted on Tuesday won their nominating contests. The other three in competitive races he endorsed had previously won party-driven nominations.
In Virginia’s central Senate nomination contest with Morrissey, Aird won with the help of an unusual number of legislators and members of the state’s congressional delegation who endorsed her. He also outspent Morrissey, who ran a scrappy operation without an official campaign manager.
A disbarred attorney with a long history of personal and professional controversy, Morrissey has long supported abortion access, but in recent years had expressed a willingness to vote with Republicans to enact stricter limits.
Until this run, Morrissey had time and again overcome personal controversies to win elected office. When he campaigned for office this year, he faced allegations of abuse and physical abuse by his estranged, younger wife, which he vehemently denied.
Despite those headwinds, many observers were unwilling to discount him because of his long-established reputation as an effective grassroots campaigner who deals with constituents’ bread-and-butter issues. Morrissey yielded to Aird.
Aird, who works in higher education administration, will enter the general election season as the favorite in the blue district south and east of Richmond.
In a statement, he thanked voters for refusing to “accept the status quo.”
“In Richmond, I will be a firewall for our reproductive rights against Republican extremists who think they have the right to make decisions about our own bodies,” she said.
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An earlier headline on this story was corrected to reflect that Lashrecse Aird is a former state lawmaker, not a current state lawmaker.
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Associated Press photographer Steve Helber contributed to this report from Dinwiddie.
