Virginia state Sen. Jennifer McClellan, a Democrat, has won her party’s nomination and will face Republican Leon Benjamin Sr. in a special congressional election in February.
"Today at 4:05 AM, the Democratic Party of Virginia concluded its tabulation of the results of the Firehouse Primary held on Tuesday, December 20, 2022 to elect a Democratic nominee for the Special Election to succeed the late Congressman A. Donald McEachin," a statement released by the Democrats said.
McEachin died Nov. 28 from the secondary effects of colorectal cancer.
The Democrats added: “Tuesday’s party-run process saw historic turnout with 27,900 votes cast, making it the largest party-run nomination process in the history of the Democratic Party of Virginia; voter turnout even exceeded the last state-run primary in VA-04, when 15,728 votes were cast.”
McClellan received 84.8% of the vote, while state Sen. Joe Morrissey collected 13.5%. Two other candidates split the rest.
Benjamin won a Republican Party canvas over the weekend and will square off against McClellan in the Feb. 21 special election in the heavily Democrat district, according to Roll Call.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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