NORFOLK, Va. — The November 2024 election in Virginia is taking shape after voters picked the Democratic and Republican nominees they want to represent them in the United States Congress.
The state held its congressional primaries Tuesday as one of Virginia's Senate seats, and all 11 House of Representatives seats are on the ballot Nov. 5.
Here's a look at four takeaways from the race results from across the Commonwealth.
Republican House primary in Virginia's 5th District deadlocked
Republican U.S. Rep. Bob Good is fighting for his political survival as the Republican U.S. House primary results show a deadlocked race against State Sen. John McGuire.
As of 2:30 p.m., Thursday, McGuire is leading Good by just hundreds of votes, a projection subject to change as mail-in and provisional ballots pour in over the coming days.
RELATED: Cliffhanger congressional contest between Bob Good and John McGuire tests power of Trump endorsement
Having garnered a reputation as a conservative firebrand, Good chairs the far-right House Freedom Caucus, and was one of eight Republicans who voted to oust former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Other GOP members, including former President Donald Trump, backed McGuire, criticizing Good as an obstructionist in Congress and insufficiently loyal to the former president after he endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' presidential campaign.
"Given the close margin in VA-5, I don't think it would be a stretch to say that McGuire probably loses without Trump's (late) endorsement," Sabato's Crystal Ball political analyst J. Miles Coleman wrote in an e-mail. "But, to some degree, 'a win is a win.' Bob Good held up better than a lot of us expected, but Trump was able to purge a DeSantis supporter, and the pro McCarthy Republicans now have a scalp."
Trump endorsement may have boosted Cao in GOP U.S. Senate primary, analyst says
Retired Navy captain and Trump endorsee Hung Cao won the Republican nomination for Virginia's 2024 U.S. Senate election. He will face Democratic incumbent Tim Kaine.
According to the Associated Press, Cao took 62% of the vote in the primary, far ahead of Scott Parkinson's second place landing at 11% and a handful of other candidates.
RELATED: Hung Cao wins Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, will face off against Tim Kaine in November
"Cao was the beneficiary of a late May Trump endorsement, which may have bumped him up from being just a favorite to a landslide winner," Coleman wrote in an analysis for Sabato's Crystal Ball Wednesday.
But that may not carry Cao across the finish line in a state that hasn't elected a Republican to the Senate since 2002, nor voted for a Republican in a presidential election since 2004.
"Cao isn't especially moderate, and Trump's endorsement probably won't be as much of an asset in the fall as it was in the primary," Coleman told 13News Now.
Coleman also noted that Kaine seems to be taking his race seriously and running an active campaign to avoid a repeat of the 2014 Senate election when his fellow Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Warner nearly lost.
Smasal comfortably wins Democratic nomination in Virginia's 2nd District
Former small business owner Missy Cotter Smasal won the Democratic nomination for the U.S. House election in Virginia's 2nd Congressional District, where she will face first-term Republican Jen Kiggans.
Smasal, who is backed by the Democratic establishment, defeated Virginia Beach attorney Jake Denton with 70% of the vote.
Coleman previously told 13News Now that the "protest" vote against her could be worth watching since a narrower victory may not bode well for her going into November.
"Smasal had a commanding primary win, so it'll be interesting if she can parlay that into better fundraising," Coleman told 13News Now on Wednesday. "We still rate Kiggans as a slight favorite, but we'll have to monitor how much more the outside groups get involved."
Democrats have set their sights on Virginia's 2nd District as one of a handful of seats that could help them reclaim the majority in the House of Representatives. The district is comprised of Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Suffolk and Franklin, along with Southampton, Isle of Wight, Northampton and Accomack Counties.
Virginia's 2nd District saw a close result in the 2022 election and has a history of changing hands between Democrats and Republicans. Kiggans, who was a Virginia state senator, defeated the two-term Democratic incumbent Elaine Luria 51% to 48%.
Vindman, Subramanyam defeat crowded Democratic fields in respective NoVA districts
The Democratic primaries in Virginia's 7th and 10th Congressional Districts had crowded fields as their U.S. House incumbents stepped aside. But now it's clear what those Northern Virginia races will look like in November.
In the 7th District, retired Army Colonel Eugene Vindman, a whistleblower of Trump's conduct toward Ukraine and a key figure in the former president's first impeachment, secured the nomination with nearly 50% of the vote.
He will face U.S. Army veteran Derrick Anderson, who won the district's Republican primary with 45% of the vote.
In the 10th District, recently-elected State Sen. Suhas Subramanyam won the Democratic nomination over more seasoned officials, including former Virginia House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn and State Sen. Jennifer Boysko.
Subramanyam was the endorsee of the outgoing U.S. Rep. Jennifer Wexton, who is retiring due to health issues. He will face attorney Mike Clancy on the Republican side.
