2018 United States House of Representatives elections in Virginia


The United States House of Representatives elections in Virginia, 2018 were held on November 6, 2018, to elect the 11 U.S. Representatives from the state of Virginia, one from each of the state's 11 congressional districts. The elections coincided with other states' elections to the House of Representatives, elections to the United States Senate and various state and local elections. Primary elections took place on June 12. The state congressional delegation flipped from a 7–4 Republican majority to a 7–4 Democratic majority. Democrats last held a majority of seats in the state in 2010.

Overview

By district

Results of the 2018 United States House of Representatives elections in Virginia by district:

District 1

Republican Rob Wittman had represented Virginia's 1st congressional district since 2007. He was re-elected in 2016 with 60% of the vote. Wittman was unopposed for the Republican nomination.

Democratic primary

Vangie Williams defeated both Edwin Santana and John Suddarth in the Democratic primary with 39.97% of the vote. With her win, she became the first woman of color to ever win a primary for Congressional office throughout Virginia. If elected she would have become the first woman of color in history to represent the state of Virginia in Congress.

Candidates

Republican primary

Endorsements

Debates

District 2

Republican incumbent Scott Taylor was in a race targeted by the DCCC. This was one of only two GOP held seats that voted for Democrat Ralph Northam in 2017. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee supported Elaine Luria, a United States Naval Commander for the nomination.
Roanoke Commonwealth's Attorney Donald Caldwell had been appointed as a special prosecutor to investigate claims that Taylor's aides forged signatures, including those of Delegate Glenn Davis and his wife, on Shaun Brown's petitions to make the ballot as an independent candidate. Taylor had already cut ties with his campaign manager when these irregularities came to light and promised to cooperate with the investigation, and said that the irregularities in the petitions should have no bearing on Brown's right to be on the ballot.
Shaun Brown submitted 2,163 petition signatures which actually went through the verification process. 1,030 of those were considered valid. Democrats asked the Virginia State Board of Elections to remove Brown from the ballot for falling short of the 1,000 signatures required, and filed suit. They also asked Attorney General of Virginia Mark Herring to investigate.
A review of the signatures also revealed that more than 50 Virginia Beach sheriff's employees had signed petition forms at work to get Brown on the ballot during the closing days of the petition drive, when petitioners were scrambling to meet the deadline.
Brown was accused by federal prosecutors of lying to the Federal Election Commission about donating $700,000 to her campaign and bilking the government by falsifying the number of meals her nonprofit fed to needy children, but her trial—in which Brown testified in her own defense and was subjected to a lengthy cross-examination—ended in a mistrial after the jury deadlocked 11–1. In a new trial the following October, Brown was convicted of fraud conspiracy, two counts of wire fraud and theft of government property. In March, 2019 Brown was sentenced to 3 years in prison.
In September, circuit judge Gregory Rupe ordered Brown off the ballot. Brown subsequently appealed to the Virginia Supreme Court but justices declined to hear her case. The Virginia Attorney General's office argued that it was too late for her to appear on the ballot.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Republican primary

Taylor was challenged in the Republican primary by former James City County Supervisor Mary Jones, who attacked Rep. Taylor for his moderate stances and because she believed he hadn't backed President Donald Trump's proposals strongly enough.

Results

General election

Endorsements

Polling

Results

District 3

Democratic incumbent Bobby Scott ran unopposed, as no Republican candidates filed for the district.

Democratic primary

Results

District 4

After the 4th district was redrawn by the courts for the 2016 elections, Democratic incumbent Donald McEachin was elected and ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination.

Democratic primary

Candidates

General election

Endorsements

Results

District 5

Incumbent Tom Garrett Jr., first elected in 2016, announced on May 28 2018 that he would not run for reelection due to his struggle with alcoholism. Instead of a traditional primary to elect the Democratic and Republican nominees, party delegates voted to hold district conventions instead.

Democratic convention

The Democratic convention was held on May 5, 2018. The party delegates chose Leslie Cockburn as the Democratic nominee.

Candidates

The Republican convention was held on June 2, 2018, less than one week after incumbent Tom Garrett Jr. announced he would not seek reelection. Denver Riggleman edged out Cynthia Dunbar, who had just lost the Republican nomination in the 6th district just weeks before, in the final round of voting to get the Republican nomination.

Candidates

Debates

Polling

Results

District 6

The 6th district was an open seat in 2018, after the Republican incumbent, Bob Goodlatte, representative from the 6th district since 1993, announced his retirement in November 2017.

Democratic primary

Results

Republican convention

Republican delegates decided to hold a party convention instead of the primary to choose their nominee. Eight Republicans ran in the convention in this district, where State Delegate Ben Cline was chosen as the GOP nominee.

Candidates

Results

District 7

After Dave Brat upset the former House Majority leader, Eric Cantor, in 2014, Brat won reelection in 2016 with 57% of the vote. Helen Alli originally was going to run as a Democrat but failed to turn in enough signatures; she then was nominated by the Whigs but again failed to turn in enough signatures; finally running as a write-in candidate.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Republican primary

Debates

Results

District 8

In the 8th district, Democrat Don Beyer had served since the 2014 election. Beyer won reelection in 2016 with 68% of the vote.

Democratic primary

Results

District 9

In the 9th district, Republican Morgan Griffith had two Democratic opponents, Anthony Flaccavento and Justin Santopietro, and a Whig opponent, Scott Blankenship, in this strongly Republican district.

Democratic primary

Results

Republican primary

Polling

Results

District 10

In the 10th district, six Democratic candidates, encouraged by the fact that Republican incumbent Barbara Comstock's district voted for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 U.S Presidential Election, submitted the required number of signatures to run for that seat. Republicans believed, however, that given that Comstock was an excellent fundraiser and fierce campaigner, she would be able to keep the seat. April polling was favorable to a generic Democrat against Comstock, although Comstock performed much better in polling when her name was on the ballot against a named Democratic opponent.
Patriarchist libertarian Nathan Larson filed to run as an independent, but then withdrew his candidacy on August 13 and endorsed Wexton, calling her "the accelerationist choice"; Wexton, through a spokesman, declined the endorsement. Comstock tweeted, "It is good news for all voters in the 10th District that Nathan Larson, a convicted felon who served time in prison for threatening to kill the President and is an admitted pedophile, an admitted rapist, white supremacist, and misogynist, is now off the ballot in the 10th Congressional District."

Democratic primary

Candidates

Republican primary

Candidates

General election

Debates

Hypothetical polling-------

Results

District 11

In the 11th district, Democratic incumbent Gerry Connolly, who ran unopposed in 2016, faced no primary challengers. However, he faced Republican U.S. Army veteran Jeff Dove in the general election. Also running was Libertarian Stevan Porter.

Democratic primary

  • Gerry Connolly, incumbent

    Republican primary

  • Jeff Dove, veteran

    General election

Results


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