In a Democratic primary with extremely low turnout, Virginia voters selected Ralph Northam to run for lieutenant governor and Mark Herringas the candidate for attorney general.
Northam, a state senator and pediatric neurosurgeon from Norfolk,got 54 percent of the vote statewide, beating challenger Aneesh Chopra of Arlington, the former chief technology officer in the Obama Administration. Northam will face Republican candidate, Bishop E.W. Jackson of Chesapeake, in the general election Nov. 5.
Herring represents Loudoun County and parts of Fairfax County in the state Senate. He got 51.6 percent of the vote in the primary statewide, beating Justin Fairfax of Annandale, a former federal prosecutor. The Republican candidate on the November ballot is Mark Obenshain, who represents the Harrisonburg area in the state Senate.
Less than 141,000 votes were cast statewide for lieutenant governor and less than 138,000 for attorney general. In Fairfax County, just over 21,600 votes were cast, more than any other jurisdiction by far.
In Fairfax County, Northam won with 54.3 percent of the vote, and Herring won with 53.7 percent.
In the Mason District, Chopra won in only five precincts (Bailey’s, Barcroft, Sleepy Hollow, St. Albans, and Weyanoke), although the vote was extremely close in many precincts. Northam got the largest margins in Masonville (75.4 percent), Lincolnia (69.4 percent), Skyline (69.3 percent), and Parklawn (65.7 percent).
Among Mason precincts, Herring got the most votes in Holmes (82 percent), Skyline (75 percent), and Brook Hill (59 percent). Fairfax, a resident of Camelot, got 67.5 percent of the vote in that precinct. He did best (between 63 and 69 percent) in Bristow, Lincolnia, Weyanoke, and Poe.