Election night results and coverage in Richmond, Virginia
Update, 12:39 a.m.: Former public health official Danny Avula appears on track to win his bid to be the next mayor of Richmond as unofficial election results indicated he won a large enough victory Tuesday to avoid a runoff election against runner-up Michelle Mosby.
Full story:
Sarah Vogelsong
Final video update available here.
Richmond Mayor
| Dist. | Leader | Reporting Status |
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City Council races of note
In the 1st District, the seat vacated by Andreas Addison will go to "Gumby" Breton, who held off Paul Goldman and Zac Taylor.
Kate Seltzer
It appears that Kenya Gibson will hold on for a victory in the 3rd District, where she'll unseat incumbent Ann-Frances Lambert.
In the 6th District, Tavares Floyd finished a distant third, with 14% of the vote as of press time, after a series of controversies engulfed his campaign.
Incumbents Ellen Robertson (6th), Cynthia Newbille (7th) and Reva Trammell (8th) all held on to their seats, while Nicole Jones held on against challenger Stephanie Starling in the 9th.
School board races of note
The 2nd District saw a change, as Mariah White lost the seat to challenger Katie Ricard.
Kate Seltzer
In the 3rd District, Ali Faruk won handily over two challengers.
The 4th District race remained too close to call as Wesley Hedgepeth had a 7 percentage point lead over incumbent Garrett Sawyer with early votes still to be counted.
The 5th District is also too close to call, with Stephanie Rizzi narrowly holding a 4-point edge over Mamie Taylor.
In the 8th District, E.J. "Emmett Jay" Jafari had a 5-point lead over P.H. "Cruz" Sherman thanks to a robust early voting turnout.
Previous updates:
Roday pleased that Kaine wins another term in Senate
Richmond mayoral candidate Harrison Roday, as votes continued to be counted in his own race, expressed satisfaction that Senator Tim Kaine appeared headed to a victory in his quest to retain his seat Tuesday.
“It was a huge point of pride for me to vote for him this year having been someone who worked on his first campaign for U.S. Senate in 2012 and seen what an incredible public servant he’s been for the Commonwealth,” Roday said Tuesday evening in his James Center campaign headquarters. “I could not be more excited he’ll be spending the next six years in the Senate.”
Kaine, who was Hillary Clinton’s running mate in 2016, held off a challenge from Republican Hung Cao, according to NBC News, which called the race for the incumbent shortly after 10:30 p.m.
As votes were being counted in his race against Danny Avula, Michelle Mosby and others, Roday said he believes the issues his campaign focused on were paramount in voters minds as the went to cast their ballots around the city – affordable housing, public schools, investment in neighborhoods, access to abortion and city hall reform.
“We’re very fortunate to have a very diverse city in all senses of the word and that reflets in what voters say their top issues are,” said Roday, who grew up in Henrico and attended classes at William & Mary. “We’ve seen very consistently, since the beginning of the campaign, whether it’s in polling, whether it’s shown up statistically or just in anecdotal feedback when we go spend time in neighborhoods knocking on doors or with early voting today, greeting voters at polling locations, everyone has different things on their minds. Those five topics are the ones that come up the most.”
Roday’s campaign took the most aggressive tact in challenging Avula, pointing out his previous time working for Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin and labeling him a pro-life candidate.
While other candidates avoided going head-on at the favorite, Roday said he believes voters appreciated his approach.
“I think voters are very willing to have an open and honest discussion about what people’s records are,” Roday said. “And I think people have demonstrated that willingness whether it’s in formal conversations through things like the many forums that we’ve held, or meeting voters where they are knocking on doors in their communities.”
Petersburg approves casino that Richmond voters rejected
After being rejected twice by Richmond residents, Petersburg became the fifth Virginia locality to approve a casino, passing it with 81.53% percent of in-person voters approving.
Petersburg’s approval percentage surpassed the other four localities that approved casinos during the 2020 election – Bristol 71.14%, Danville 68.73%, Norfolk 65.06%, and Portsmouth 66.75%.
The Cordish Company, partnering with NFL Hall of Famer Bruce Smith, were selected as the backers of the resort casino and hotel, which is projected to cost $1.4 billion to build. The 92.5-acre space is off Interstate 95 and Wagner Road along Brasfield Parkway.
After floating endorsement, Stoney keeps mayoral vote private
After voting in Church Hill Tuesday morning, Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney was happy to talk about his votes for Democratic nominees in the federal races on the ballot in Richmond.
But he wouldn’t say who he voted for to take the local office he’s held for almost eight years.
“I voted for someone who I thought would be able to handle the job of mayor,” Stoney said. “Mayor is the toughest job in Virginia politics.”
Pressed to say which candidate that is, Stoney said “I’m going to leave that between me and the Commonwealth of Virginia.”
Earlier in the campaign, Stoney said several times that he intended to endorse a potential successor from the five-person field. As recently as last week, he suggested he might make a last-minute endorsement the weekend before the election.
Asked what made him change his mind, Stoney said he, like many Richmonders, struggled to decide which candidate was best suited for the role.
“It’s not uncommon in Richmond politics that people are late breakers,” he said. “I don’t know who we’re late-breaking for. But I think folks were undecided until the very end.”
Hispanic vote comes in light, lack of outreach cited
The 9th District has seen its Hispanic population boom over the past few years, but there was little evidence of that on Tuesday at Cardinal Elementary School.
As of 5:30 p.m., the precinct had the fewest votes recorded of any in the City of Richmond, with only 219 voters having cast a ballot.
Two Spanish-speaking voters, who declined to give their names, shared that they didn’t feel there was any outreach to Richmond’s Hispanic voters.
As of the most recent census, Richmond City’s Hispanic population was 8%.
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Full mayoral vote
| District | Addison | Avula | Mosby | Neblett | Roday | Precincts | Early Votes |
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