Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) and County Board Chair Matt de Ferranti are cruising to victory in tonight’s Democratic primaries, with returns showing both incumbents far ahead of their challengers.
The Associated Press called the 8th District race for Beyer at 7:34 p.m., 34 minutes after Virginia polls closed.
With all four of the district’s localities reporting as of 9 p.m., Beyer had 67% of the vote — 37,027 ballots — to 18% for Mo Seifeldein, 9% for Adam Dunigan, 3% for Michael Duffin and 3% for Lorena Bruner.
Beyer said in a statement:
With so much at stake for our community and our country at this moment, I am grateful to Northern Virginians for again making me their Democratic nominee to fight for Virginia’s 8th District. I will continue to do all I can to justify that sacred trust. I want to thank my primary opponents for their willingness to run and serve.
Today Northern Virginians are beset by skyrocketing prices, attacks on many of our neighbors, and major threats to our democratic system. Rather than help Americans concerned about inflation, President Trump’s Republican allies are enabling his tariffs, supporting his disastrous war, slashing health care for working people, and turning a blind eye to some of the worst corruption ever seen in this country.
Republicans do not have the courage to stand up to Trump. To fix this mess, we must win back control of Congress. I am throwing myself into that fight, working to elect Democrats across the country starting right here in Virginia, and doing all we can to restore sanity and decency. We will win this struggle, but it will not be easy. Let’s get to work.
Beyer, 76, is on track for a seventh term. He served eight years as Virginia’s lieutenant governor, lost the 1997 governor’s race to Republican Jim Gilmore and later served as President Barack Obama’s ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein before winning the seat vacated by retiring Rep. Jim Moran in 2014.
Seifeldein, a former Alexandria City Council member, was the only challenger who had previously won elected office. He ran as the field’s progressive option and tangled with Beyer over PAC money and impeachment at a July 1 forum.
Dunigan, a former federal employee, campaigned on generational turnover and getting money out of politics, building a large social media following along the way. Duffin, also a former federal employee, criticized what he called Democratic machine politics and skipped a July 11 party picnic over heckling from rival supporters.
Bruner lives in Stafford County and entered the race when redistricting was expected to redraw the 8th District to include her home. She stayed in after the map was thrown out, saying the field needed a woman’s voice.
Beyer faces Republican Tony Sabio, the lone GOP candidate for the seat, in the Nov. 3 general election. Beyer won nearly 72% of the vote in a four-candidate general election field in 2024.
Arlington County Board race
De Ferranti, meanwhile, is on track for a first-round win under ranked-choice voting. With all 54 Arlington precincts reporting, he had 55% of first-choice votes — 9,432 ballots — to 28% for Julie Farnam and 16% for James DeVita.
A candidate who clears 50% in the first round wins outright, without further rounds of tabulation. It is the fourth County Board primary in a row run under ranked-choice rules, and the third in which the winner cleared the bar on the first ballot.
De Ferranti, an attorney elected in 2018 and re-elected in 2022, is seeking a third four-year term. He won about 61% of the 2018 primary vote and unseated independent incumbent John Vihstadt that November.
Farnam, a civic activist and small-business owner who has lived in Arlington since 2009, entered the race in May with sharp criticism of the all-Democratic County Board. She finished fifth of five in the 2024 primary, the first candidate eliminated under ranked choice.
DeVita, noted for his wordy political signs and also an attorney, was making his fourth consecutive run for office. He drew 16% against state Sen. Barbara Favola in 2023, 10% in the 2024 County Board primary and 36% against County Board member Takis Karantonis last year.
The Democratic nominee will face independents Audrey Clement and David Sisson in November. Clement is a frequent local candidate who took 15% last year and 28% in 2022. Sisson serves on the county’s Transit Advisory Committee and is executive vice chair of the Northern Virginia Affordable Housing Alliance.
U.S. Senate race
On the Republican side, the AP called the U.S. Senate primary for Bert Mizusawa at 7:29 p.m. With all 133 localities reporting statewide, Mizusawa had 51% — 109,533 votes — to 29% for David Williams and 20% for Kim Farington.
Mizusawa is a retired U.S. Army general. Williams is a former CIA case officer who lives in Reston, and Farington is a former federal worker and technology company CEO.
Mizusawa will challenge Democratic Sen. Mark Warner, who has never faced a primary in his 18 years in the Senate and has said a fourth term would be his last. Also on the November ballot is independent Mark Moran, a McLean native who was fined and suspended by the prediction market Kalshi in April for betting on his own race.
The Senate contest was the only race on the Republican ballot in Arlington, and local party leaders spent the final week pushing members to vote in it.
Turnout was light. Arlington logged 26,969 ballots cast out of 180,014 registered voters, a turnout rate the state dashboard listed at 15%.
The county elections office pegged its 5 p.m. in-person estimate at 5.8% of registered voters. Voting had gotten off to a slow start, with about 1.1% of voters casting in-person ballots as of 9 a.m.
Arlington wasn’t alone. In Alexandria, 8,750 ballots had been cast in the Democratic primary as of noon — about 8.8% of the city’s 99,811 registered voters, and most of that from early and mail-in voting — against just 898 in the Republican Senate primary. Fairfax County saw an even slower start, with 0.38% of the county’s 8th District voters casting in-person ballots by noon, on top of the 4.28% who voted early.
Virginia primaries are typically held in mid-June, but were pushed to August this year to accommodate congressional redistricting — which was later invalidated on procedural grounds by the Virginia Supreme Court.
