Arlington election officials have formally certified Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker’s overwhelming victory in the race to succeed State Sen. Adam Ebbin.
Across the entire district, the Bennett-Parker (D-39) won 83.4% of the vote in the Feb. 10 special election. In Arlington, she got 84.2% of the vote compared to 15.8% for Republican Julie Robben Lineberry, according to preliminary figures from the Virginia Department of Elections.
Six of Arlington’s 54 precincts were involved in the race to succeed Sen. Adam Ebbin, who resigned to take a post in the Spanberger administration.
Election Day was “without incident,” Electoral Board secretary Dominick Schirripa said.
It proved “the election I always wished for — the nice, quiet, boring type,” Electoral Board chair Kim Phillip said at the body’s Feb. 13 meeting.
Perhaps the only issue was that 30 mail ballots were delivered by the U.S. Postal Service on the afternoon of Friday, Feb. 13, missing the noon deadline, according to county elections director Gretchen Reinemeyer.
Legislation to move that deadline to 5 p.m. on Fridays passed the General Assembly in 2025 but was vetoed by then-Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R). Backers, including Sen. Barbara Favola (D-40), are trying again this year.
Like Ebbin before her, Bennett-Parker moves up from the lower to the upper house of the legislature.
The 39th Senate District is centered in the city of Alexandria, which contains about 76% of the district’s voting-age population, according to the Virginia Public Access Project (VPAP). In addition to the six precincts in Arlington, it also includes a similar number of Fairfax County precincts.
The district is seen as reliably Democratic, with Kamala Harris receiving 76% of the vote in 2024, according to VPAP.
Alexandria Republicans recruited Lineberry, a real-estate professional, to be their party’s nominee.
Working to rally the troops at a pre-election gathering of the Arlington County Republican Committee, Lineberry said she stood a shot if GOP turnout was high and Democratic turnout was low. In the end, the results were typical of the district.
Bennett-Parker’s vacated House of Delegates district does not include any Arlington precincts, so the county elections office will not be involved in the upcoming special election to fill it.
Still, some of Bennett-Parker’s new Arlington constituents will recognize her from a few years ago. Prior to redistricting following the 2020 census, her House of Delegates’ district had included portions of South Arlington.
The next election on the horizon in Arlington will be the April 21 referendum on amending congressional districts statewide. Early voting in that election begins March 6.
At the Feb. 13 meeting, Electoral Board members appointed an additional 38 officers of election, who will be eligible to serve during elections running through February 2029.
