The next Speaker of the House of Representatives will be on stage in Virginia in the final hours before Tuesday’s election. Both Democrat Hakeem Jeffries and Republican Mike Johnson will be in Virginia Beach stumping for candidates in the state’s 2nd Congressional District.
Jeffries is scheduled to appear on Saturday alongside former Rep. Elaine Luria, who is attempting to regain her seat in Congress after losing it to Rep. Jen Kiggans in “the red wave election” of 2022. Johnson is scheduled to join Kiggans on Monday at a “Red, White, and Blue Rally,” also in Virginia Beach.
Former Gov. Glenn Youngkin and country singer Colton James are also expected to appear in a last-minute bid for support.
The race in Virginia’s 2nd District was always expected to be tight, and it has lived up to the hype.
“We want to demonstrate to the people of Virginia how important this race is. Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District will determine the state of the country because this will be a close election,” Johnson said during a visit back in August.
The Center for Politics at the University of Virginia said the race “leans Democratic” in its final forecast of the year, which was issued on Tuesday. The most recent poll of the district, conducted by Christopher Newport University between Oct. 1-10, showed Luria leading Kiggans 46% to 43%. That was within the survey’s 4-point margin of error, however.
U.S. Sen. Mark Warner will appear on Saturday alongside Democrat congressional candidate Beth Macy, who is looking to unseat Rep. Ben Cline in the 6th District. Macy’s communications manager told the Daily Signal that nobody polled this district this cycle. However, “the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee added the 6th to its ‘Districts in Play‘ list, which is just a shade under their ‘Red to Blue’ designation,” Ralph Berrier said.
For his part, Warner appears to be on a glide path to reelection in a seat that has been held by a man named “Warner” ever since Republican John Warner was narrowly elected in 1978. These two faced off in an all-Warner showdown in 1996. Eventually Mark Warner, who by then had served a term as governor, won the seat after John Warner retired in 2008. The incumbent has said this will be his final race, and there is no indication whether another Warner will step forward in 2032.
Warner’s opponent this time is Bert Mizusawa, a retired Army major general. “I actually have been read into the war plans on Iran when I was on the Joint Staff, around the 2012 era, and the one thing I know is the president is going to have the latest and best information, and the die is cast on Iran right now,” he told NBC4 earlier this month. “We can’t roll the clock back on it, so I think the president deserves our support.”
In Virginia’s 1st District, Democrat Shannon Taylor told reporters in Henrico County on Thursday that she “would vote to end the war on day one,” which she said her Republican opponent, Rep. Rob Wittman, has failed to do. She added that Congress controls the purse strings and could defund the war as well as lift President Donald Trump’s various tariffs.
Earlier this month, Wittman noted in an interview with the Daily Signal that he speaks with many people in the district who are on active military service or who are veterans. “They’re saying, ‘What are we going to do to modernize in the face of these increasing threats from other nations around the world?’” Wittman called on lawmakers to pass a $67 billion defense appropriations bill that is pending in the Senate. He also plans to rally with Johnson on Monday in Henrico County.
Sabato’s Crystal Ball lists the 1st District as a “toss-up,” which is also where it scored the 5th District. Rep. John McGuire, a first-term Republican, is facing former Rep. Tom Perriello in that race. Perriello plans to appear alongside another former occupant of the 5th District seat, Denver Riggleman, in Lynchburg on Saturday. Riggleman lost to Bob Good in the 2020 GOP primary, and McGuire ousted Good in the 2024 Republican primary.
There are also three constitutional amendments on the statewide ballot. Early voting ends at 5 p.m. on Saturday. Polls open at 6 a.m. Tuesday for Election Day.
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[ H/T The Daily Signal ]
