Virginia

Polls open Tuesday for special election to fill open seats in Virginia General Assembly – WTOP News

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4 months ago

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January 13, 2026

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Press Room

Polls open Tuesday for special election to fill open seats in Virginia General Assembly – WTOP News

Voters are heading to the polls Tuesday for a special election in parts of Northern Virginia to fill two open seats in the state’s General Assembly.

Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. for in-person voting Tuesday in Districts 11 and 23, which include parts of Fairfax, Prince William and Stafford counties, as well as Fairfax City.

Tuesday’s special election was triggered when Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger tapped two current members of the Virginia House of Delegates to join her cabinet.

Del. David Bulova, who represents Fairfax City and portions of Fairfax County, has been asked to lead as Virginia’s next secretary of natural and historic resources.

In nearby District 23, Del. Candi Mundon King is resigning to serve as the secretary of the commonwealth. Her constituents live in parts of Prince William and Stafford counties.

Both exiting lawmakers are Democrats.

Tuesday marks one of several special elections happening this month to fill open seats in Virginia’s General Assembly, including a second contest in another part of Fairfax County. Voters will head to the polls in District 17 next week.

How to vote

The Virginia Department of Elections website has a tool to help voters find their polling location.

Voters who are 65 or older, or those with disabilities, have the option of voting curbside.

Ballots that are cast by mail need to be postmarked on or before Jan. 13 and received by Jan. 16.

Outside of mailing those absentee ballots, voters can also bring them to a drop-off location. Check in with your city or county elections office for information about drop boxes and their locations.

District 11

Voters will see two candidates on the ballot in District 11: Democrat Gretchen Bulova and Republican Adam Wise.

Both candidates hold some name recognition in Fairfax County and Fairfax City.

Gretchen Bulova is married to the longtime Del. David Bulova, who is resigning from his position in the house to serve alongside Spanberger.

Wise challenged the incumbent for his seat in 2025 but lost to David Bulova.

The Republican nominee, Wise, is a native of Fairfax who works as a firearms instructor and self-defense teacher. On his website, he promoted a campaign slogan that seems to advocate for restricting the government’s influence on Virginians, writing “the government which governs least, governs best.”

Gretchen Bulova serves as the Director of the Office of Historic Alexandria, overseeing museums as well as other research-centered programs, according to her website. She’s also the chair of the Fairfax County 250th Commission.

Affordability was the top issue of Gretchen Bulova’s campaign, with the Democrat specifically listing priorities of access to affordable housing, child care, electricity and health care on her website.

District 23

Democrat Margaret Franklin is running against Republican Verndell Robinson for the open seat in District 23.

Franklin represents the Woodbridge District on the Prince William Board of County Supervisors. She was first elected to the board in 2019.

With hopes of maintaining the seat for Democrats, Franklin has campaigned on issues such as affordable housing, health care and the economy.

Robinson is a veteran of the U.S. Navy and currently works as a real estate agent, according to a local GOP committee.

Robinson has been a critic of certain data center developments and pressed for more affordable housing.

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Virginia

Virginia Supreme Court voids voter-approved redistricting referendum

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4 hours ago

on

May 11, 2026

By

Press Room

Virginia Supreme Court voids voter-approved redistricting referendum

On May 8, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that the General Assembly violated the state constitution when it tried to redraw congressional districts, nullifying the results of the April election in which Virginians narrowly approved redistricting.

Electoral maps are usually redrawn once every 10 years, but multiple states began redrawing them early after President Donald Trump urged Republicans to redraw district lines to ensure more favorable results for the party in the November 2026 elections.

This started a nationwide political battle for control of the U.S. House of Representatives. Texas was the first of several states to redraw districts favoring Republicans, and Virginia Democrats had proposed a constitutional amendment to allow redistricting in order to favor Democrats.

As of May 8, Republicans had initiated redistricting efforts in eight states; Democrats had led redistricting efforts in three states, including Virginia, the Washington Post reported.

In April, Virginia voters supported the redistricting amendment with 51.7% voting for it out of more than 3 million ballots cast. It could have given Democrats up to four extra seats in the U.S. House, according to the Washington Post (subscription required).

But the Virginia Supreme Court, in a 4-3 ruling, found that there were procedural errors in how the Democratic legislature handled the process, nullifying the election results.

The Virginia Constitution says that proposed constitutional amendments must pass in the General Assembly twice before the public can vote on them: once before an election of the House of Delegates, and again after an election. According to the Virginia Supreme Court majority opinion written by Justice D. Arthur Kelsey, early voting for the general election had already been open for six weeks when the General Assembly cast its first vote on the amendment in October 2025, with more than 1.3 million voters having already cast their ballots.

“This violation irreparably undermines the integrity of the resulting referendum vote and renders it null and void,” the court majority opinion stated.

The court’s ruling means the state reverts to the old district maps adopted in 2021. Based on those maps, Virginia voters elected six Democrats and five Republicans to the U.S. House.

Following the court’s ruling, some Virginia Democrats who planned to run for the U.S. House told the New York Times that they have to abandon their campaigns, while others, such as Tom Perriello who is running for the 5th District, face much more difficult campaigns.

Virginia Democrats on Friday asked the court to pause the nullification of the referendum results while they prepare their appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, according to VPM.

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