More than 870,000 Virginians had cast an early ballot in the 2026 midterm elections as of two weeks before Election Day. That represents more than a quarter of the total voting turnout in 2022, the last time there was a midterm election without a presidential campaign to drive up turnout.
According to the Virginia Public Access Project, almost twice as many early votes had been cast as were cast at the same time four years ago. In the Republican-held but tightly contested 5th and 6th Congressional Districts, more people had voted as of Oct. 20 than had voted early in all of 2022.
“We are seeing record-breaking turnout for our campaign because people want these prices to come down,” Democrat Tom Perriello said in a statement to the Daily Signal.
He represented the 5th District from 2009 to 2011 and is running again this year. “We have Republicans, independents, and Democrats showing up for us because they want [Rep.] John McGuire to pay a political price for the higher prices he has forced all of us to pay,” Perriello added.
McGuire’s campaign did not return the Daily Signal’s request for comment.
The spike in early voting has shown up in the 6th Congressional District, in which Republican Rep. Ben Cline is in a tight race against Democrat challenger Beth Macy.
“In the 6th District, early voting is up in all Democratic-leaning municipalities,” Ralph Berrier, communications director for Macy, told the Daily Signal.
“Harrisonburg is expected to be +42 Dem., Staunton is trending +38 Dem., Roanoke +40. Even Clarke County, which Ben Cline carried by 20 points in 2024, projects to be +4 Dem in early voting. Beth and her campaign staff believe that Democrats will also have a robust turnout on Election Day,” he said.
Cline’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
“Our candidates are encouraged, but nobody’s reading tea leaves. There are competing theories, in some precincts it’s double turnout than others,” Beau Correll, chairman of the Winchester Republican Committee, told the Daily Signal. “I do think part of the early surge is referendum-driven, and that’s no surprise. Amendment 1 is bringing out people who don’t usually vote in a midterm, on both sides.”
He noted that voters have “real concern about Amendment 1,” the abortion amendment, and that those voters “aren’t waiting for Election Day.”
“Beyond that, the cost of living comes up at nearly every door. There is also increasing polarization in more doors than normal. They know what’s on the ballot and they know the Senate race is at the top of it,” Correll added.
Three-term incumbent Sen. Mark Warner is facing Republican Bert Mizusawa, a retired U.S. Army major general, in that statewide Senate contest. Warner, the Democrat, has a massive fundraising advantage in the race, but reliable polling data has been difficult to come by.
There are three constitutional amendments on the statewide ballot.
Amendment Question 1 involves policies related to abortion rights. Amendment Question 2 involves whether to remove the state’s constitutional prohibition on same-sex marriage, which is currently not being enforced because of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
Amendment Question 3 would immediately restore the voting rights of former felons as soon as they are released from prison. Currently, they must appeal to the governor to have those rights restored.
“Republican voters are deeply concerned about national issues that have a local impact: immigration, where local leaders refuse to work with ICE and actively thwart federal immigration policy, and affordability, where local taxes have gone up year after year,” Matthew Hurtt, chairman of the Arlington GOP, told the Daily Signal. “To that end, we are communicating our candidates’ positions on those issues and getting out our voters.”
Early voting ends Oct. 31. Election Day is Nov. 3.
Continue reading...
[ H/T The Daily Signal ]
