Virginia Governor's Race 2017 Results: Northam Vs. Gillespie (ICYMI)

RICHMOND, VA — In one of the first voter responses after the 2016 election of President Donald Trump, Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam won the Democratic nomination for Virginia governor in the June 13 primary, while the Republican race went down to the final precinct counts before former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie was declared the winner.

Northam led former Congressman Tom Perriello with 56 percent to 44 percent of the votes cast with 99 percent of the votes counted Tuesday night. The second-place finisher on the GOP side, Corey Stewart, refused Tuesday to support his party's winner and was mulling a request for a recount in the race decided by only a 1 percent margin.

Given its proximity to the nation's capital and the ties some of the candidates have to both national political parties, the election has garnered national attention. For the Democrats, establishment figure Northam quashed progressive standard-bearer Perriello, who was seen as a Bernie Sanders-like idealist by his supporters. On the GOP side, Gillespie had a healthy lead in recent polls over two regionally known candidates, one of whom was Stewart, who made it a point to campaign in front of Confederate soldier statues.

The winners from each party will run for the state's top political office Nov. 7 in the general election.
Gillespie edged Stewart by 1.2 percent with 43.71 percent of the vote count to 42.53 percent, according to the state election website.

Stewart may have won his home area of Prince William County by nearly 30 percentage points, but when the votes began rolling in from the more "northern" areas of Northern Virginia late in the evening, Gillespie pulled away from his Confederate flag-boosting challenger. Gillespie won Fairfax County 47.7 to 39.0 percent, Arlington County 61.4 to 25.7 and Falls Church 62.9 to 26.0.

Gillespie said in an email to supporters. "As your Republican nominee to become the next Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, I promise to continue running a campaign that will make you proud, that will unify our party, and will lead our ticket to victory in November."

But Stewart wasn't pledging to help unify the party when he spoke to his supporters in Woodbridge Tuesday night.

He referred to Gillespie as “Establishment Ed” and said, “There is one word you will never hear from me, and that’s ‘unity,’” Stewart said, according to The Washington Post. “We’ve been backing down too long. We’ve been backing down too long in defense of our culture, and our heritage and our country.”

The Northam campaign sent an email to supporters Tuesday night taking aim at Gillespie as the GOP nominee.

"I am humbled and honored to be your Democratic nominee for governor of Virginia. We ran this primary based on the idea that we can build a commonwealth that works for everyone, no matter who you are, no matter where you’re from — because that’s part of what makes Virginia the place we love," Northam wrote. "We made it clear: We aren’t going to let Ed Gillespie bring Donald Trump’s hate into Virginia. We’ve fought tooth and nail to make progress in this commonwealth, and we’re not going to stop now."

In the lieutenant governor's race, Justin Fairfax won the Democratic nomination with 48 percent as 89 percent of the votes were counted. On the Republican side, Jill Vogel slightly edged Bryce Reeves 43 to 40 percent.

Virginia is the only state barring governors from serving consecutive terms, so Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe is not eligible to run. His second-in-command, Northam, is running against former Congressman Perriello for the Democratic nomination. In the Republican race, candidates include former GOP chairman Gillespie, Prince William County Board of Supervisors Chairman Corey Stewart and state Sen. Frank Wagner.

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Polling before the primary showed Gillespie with a substantial lead over his fellow Republican candidates, while Perriello and Northam are in a tighter race. In a mid-May Washington Post poll, Gillespie garners 38 percent, compared to the 18 percent for Stewart and the 15 percent for Wagner. On the Democratic side, Perriello received 40 percent to Northam's 38 percent, a two-point lead that could be within a margin of error.

Looking ahead to a general election matchup could signal more trouble for Gillespie. According to a Washington Post poll released May 22, Northam beats Gillespie 49-38.

But the straw poll results from local groups are not the same, at least on the Democratic side. Republican Gillespie won the straw poll in Stewart's own Prince William County, as well as Fairfax and Loudoun Counties. On the Democratic side, Northam won straw polls held by Rep. Gerry Connolly and Del Alfonso Lopez, as well as those in Alexandria, Arlington and Mount Vernon.

The Republican majority in the House of Delegates is also at stake. All 100 House of Delegates are up for election. But voters in most districts will not see these candidates on the primary ballots; only 24 districts have candidates running opposed in the primary.

READ ALSO:

• Northam Crushes Perriello In Arlington County
• Alexandria Primary Election Winners: Northam, Gillespie
• Fairfax County Primary Election Winners: Northam, Gillespie
• Falls Church Primary Election Winners: Northam, Gillespie
• Northam Crushes Perriello In Reston District

Campaigns Make Last Pitches To Virginia Voters

Perriello, who was endorsed by progressives such as Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, made a number of stops in Hamptons Roads and Northern Virginia, ending in a Fairfax rally with Gold Star father Khizr Khan. On Tuesday, he will visit polling places throughout the day and have an election night party in Falls Church.

Republicans have made appearances in large metropolitan areas as well, but they have also frequented more rural, traditionally Republican areas. Over the weekend and Monday, Gillespie campaigned in Northern Virginia, including a stop at Celebrate Fairfax, before heading to Richmond for Election Day results. Similar to Northam, Gillespie picked up endorsements from many Republican state lawmakers and national names like Sen. Marco Rubio and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

On Monday, Stewart campaigned in Chesapeake and Lynchburg in between stops at Confederate statues, which has become his top talking point. The Prince William County head lost key votes from colleagues, who cite his support for Confederate symbols. But the anti-establishment candidate has support from gun rights group Virginia Citizens Defense League and Tea Party Nation. Stewart will head to his home of Woodbridge for an election night party.

Wagner, who trails Gillespie and Stewart in the polls, has campaigned in more rural areas near Roanoke and Danville in the days leading up to the primary. Although Wagner has support from fewer officials, he received The Washington Post's endorsement.

Democrats have the advantage in early voting, according to ballots counted a day before the election. As of June 12, the Department of Elections counted 23,774 Democratic and 12,016 Republican absentee ballots that have been returned.

Patch editors Skip Wood and Dan Taylor contributed to this story.

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