Woodbridge VA Election Results: Voters Go To The Polls

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, VA — Prince William County residents went to the polls Tuesday in their final chance to cast their vote in a number of races.

This year, Woodbridge residents voted for president and vice president, U.S. senator and U.S. house member. They also voted on two amendments to the Virginia Constitution.

Former Vice President Joe Biden is the projected winner in Virginia, as called by the Associated Press at 7:36 p.m.

Immediately after polls closed, the Associated Press also called the U.S. Senate race in Virginia for Mark Warner. The senior senator won a third term by defeating Republican challenger Daniel Gade. Warner, is a former businessman who served as Virginia governor from 2002 to 2006, was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2008 and won re-election in 2014. Gade is a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel and amputee who now serves as an American University professor.

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While much of the focus of the 2020 election coverage has been on the presidential race, Prince William County residents get to have their say in House elections.

Prince William County includes three different congressional districts: the 1st, 10th and 11th.

Rep. Robert Wittman has been projected as the winner of Virginia's 1st congressional district, which includes much of the Fredericksburg area and runs through the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula and into Prince William County. He has held the seat since winning a special election in 2007.

His challenger, Qasim Rashid, a human rights lawyer and book author, also works as a consultant, helping businesses and nonprofits improve corporate strategy. Rashid defeated Vangie Williams in the June Democratic primary.

Wittman said that the coronavirus crisis has led to unprecedented economic disruption. "When the economy begins to open up, we need to be prepared — we need to support our small businesses and prepare potential employees to fill jobs as they become available. We must continue to incentivize rehiring, remove regulatory barriers to job creation," he said on his campaign website.

Rashid said the 1st Congressional District, along with the rest of the nation, needs "a robust posture on healthcare, with the scaling up of testing being of utmost importance."

"It is wide scale testing that will effectively restart the economy, short of a COVID-19 vaccine," Rashid said on his campaign website.

In the 11th Congressional District, Rep. Gerard Connolly (D) is running for re-election against Manga Anantatmula (R).

Connolly, in a letter to constituents, noted that two areas that have been left unaddressed by Congress are aid to state and local governments and saving the postal service. "As a former Chairman of Fairfax County, I’m especially cognizant of the needs of local governments," Connolly said.

Connolly said he has a call with leaders from local government in the 11th District to hear first-hand about the problems they are facing. "They’re not only facing massive unexpected direct costs from treating coronavirus, but are seeing their own tax bases utterly decimated," he said. "Failing to shore up state and local governments finances now will lead to unnecessary budget cuts, job losses, and a deeper recession."

On her website, Anantatmula said she has refused to take any government assistance for her son while he was growing up even though the Fairfax County Public School offered free lunch during his school days. "My husband and I worked hard to pull ourselves up," she said. "We believe in individual responsibility, self-reliance, and hard work; and we taught these same values to our son."

Anantatmula also said on her website that politicians "are shutting down schools for political reasons and it has nothing to do with COVID." "School closure disrupts all of this. Reopening schools — while taking precautions to protect students, teachers, staff, and families — invest in our children," she said.

In the 10th Congressional District race, Wexton, the incumbent, believes that the most pressing issue right now is getting this virus under control and supporting our families and small businesses in need.

Andrews, Wexton’s Republican opponent, contends that the “coronavirus lockdowns have devastated businesses in Virginia’s 10th and across America.”