Live Election Day updates: Polls close in Virginia as nation braces for results in bellwether race
new governors in Virginia and New Jersey, new congressional representatives in two Ohio districts and new mayors in some of the nation’s largest cities.
Early voting has been going on for weeks in some states. Polls closed at 7 p.m. ET in Virginia, where the state’s Department of Elections said anyone in line by 7 p.m. will be able to vote. Reports out of Staunton in the Shenandoah Valley indicated high turnout.
The results will be dissected for any inkling of what they can tell us about 2022, when Republicans will try to retake control of Congress from the slim Democratic majority.
Democrats have an eight-seat advantage in the House, and control the split Senate. All 435 seats in the House will be up for election in 2022 along with 34 seats in the Senate.
Read more:5 Things that could decide Virginia election (and 2022): Biden, Trump, culture wars and more
Shontel Brown wins election for Ohio House seat
Democrat Shontel Brown defeated Republican challenger Laverne Gore for a Cleveland-area House seat, according to the Associated Press. Brown will succeed former Rep. Marcia Fudge, who left her seat to become President Joe Biden’s secretary for Housing and Urban Development.
– Sean Rossman
Abortion, COVID vaccine mandates on voters’ minds in Fairfax
Abortion rights and the COVID-19 vaccine mandate were on some voters’ minds as they arrived to cast their ballots at polling centers in Fairfax, Virginia.
Ellen Gbane, 59, an economist at the Bureau of Labor Statistics and resident of Centreville, said that though she opposes abortion personally, due to her religious affiliations, she is pro-abortion rights when it comes to her politics.
“Politicians should not be imposing their moral beliefs on other people. Women should have the right to choose,” Gbane said. She voted for Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe.
Alexis Frogs, 40, a librarian who voted at Fairfax County Government Center, said McAuliffe’s position on abortion was a deciding factor for her vote.
McAuliffe has supported women’s reproductive rights throughout his campaign. In contrast, Republican candidate Glenn Youngkin, has described himself as pro-life, only supporting abortion in certain instances of rape, incest or a medical emergency threatening the mother’s life.
Frogs also criticized Youngkin’s campaign and his method of promoting his policies. “I feel like it was a lot of fear mongering as opposed to just telling [us] what he wants to do,” she said.
Frogs said that she supported a federal vaccine mandate as COVID-19 still posed a threat and transmission rates were still high amongst the unvaccinated. She said that if Republicans were really anti-abortion rights, they should take the repercussions of not getting vaccinated even more seriously. “If we want to give back to life, it only makes sense that everyone gets vaccinated. We live in a society with other people, and you can’t always do what you want to do. You have to compromise,” Frogs said.
AJ Tahbaz, 43, a resident of Centreville, said that though he was pro-vaccination, he was still on the fence about federal mandates. “I feel bad about people losing their jobs just because it goes against something that they feel strongly about. Maybe [the government] needs to do a better job of educating and informing people before imposing such mandates,” Tahbaz said. “I wish everyone could come to that conclusion on their own and get vaccinated, so we wouldn’t have to impose these rules.”
– Zoya Mirza
Virginia officials: People in line by 7 will be able to vote
Virginia’s Department of Elections said voters in line by 7 p.m. ET will be given the chance to vote Tuesday evening.
Polls closed at 7 p.m. in the state where voters are deciding who will be Virginia’s next governor: Republican Glenn Youngkin or Democrat Terry McAuliffe. The candidates have been in a neck-and-neck race leading up to Election Day.
National picture looms over Youngkin-McAuliffe race
National politics may have played a big part in drawing some voters in Centreville out to the Virginia gubernatorial election.
“I’m kind of looking at the whole picture in terms of the country, not only in Virginia,” said Bradley Clark, an occupational therapist from Fairfax, as his toddler ran in circles around the entrance to the polling place at Centre Ridge Elementary School in Fairfax County.
Clark wants his votes to help “ensure that the state continues staying Democratic” but also wants Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe to push for progressive policies on the national level. Republican candidate Glenn Youngkin, on the other hand, is “more of a pro-Trump kind of candidate.”
“I really think that’s the wrong direction for Virginia, but also for the country as a whole.”
But these voters disagree about which direction Virginia and the country should be led in.
Larry Parthum, an Air Force analyst from Centreville, trusts Youngkin to advocate and legislate against abortion – and said he thinks that McAuliffe is “a substitute for Hilary Clinton,” given McAuliffe’s longstanding political relationship with the Clintons and other prominent Democrats.
– Julia Mueller
Virginia governor’s race ‘litmus test’ for national elections, voters say
Voters outside the Dorothy Hart Community Center in Fredericksburg said they cast their votes Tuesday in hopes that the outcome of the gubernatorial election would have ripple effects across the nation.
Andrew Brunson, a 25-year-old line cook and student at Carnegie Mellon University, said he voted for Democrat Terry McAuliffe in a tight race that he thinks will be a “litmus test” for future elections.
“I’ve been proud of the progress Virginia has made in the past four years, and (Glenn) Youngkin is very much a symptom of the hyper-right Trumpism radicalism taking over the country,” Brunson said. “We’ve got to hold our ground.”
Jimmy Whitman, a 47-year-old custom homebuilder, who canvased with his wife Tuesday afternoon for Republican Glenn Youngkin, said he thinks a Youngkin victory would encourage voters to favor more moderate conservatives in national elections.
McAuliffe vs. Youngkin:How this suburban school board became the hottest issue in the Virginia governor’s race
“We hope it sets a tone for the rest of the country that if moderates can win Virginia, we can do well throughout the country,” he said.
Barbra Anderson, a 55-year-old teacher at King George High School, who voted with her mother and son, said she favors bipartisanship but voted for McAuliffe to give Democrats the best footing in the midterm elections.
“If the Democrats lose Virginia, the Democrats will lose 2022,” Anderson said. “Unfortunately, we have Terry McAuliffe, who I think is a weak candidate.”
– Hannah Schoenbaum and Isabel Miller
Hala Ayala vs. Winsome Sears: Virginia’s next lieutenant governor will make history
– Chelsey Cox and Mabinty Quarshie
Education on the ballot in Leesburg
Education is on the ballot for both Democrat and Republican voters in Leesburg on Tuesday.
Parents like James Freire, 41, say COVID lockdowns have restricted parents’ access to school buildings, creating a lack of accountability over teachers and school board officials.
“We actually pulled our kids out of the schools because of some of the horrible things that have been going on,” said Freire, who voted voted for Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin. “The parents need to be allowed back in the buildings,” Freire said.
Education has become a pivotal issue for voters in the Virginia governor’s race between Youngkin and Democrat Terry McAuliffe, highlighting a philosophical divide over what it means to be parents looking out for their kids’ best interests.
“I am raising a child who is on the autism spectrum,” said Sheryl Nelson, 58. Nelson considers herself an Independent, but says she voted for McAuliffe on Tuesday.
“I just feel like a lot of marginalized people in this country have not been treated fairly, and I want to make sure that our elected officials hear the voices of people who are more moderate,” Nelson said.
– Andrew Marquardt and Jonathan Lehrfeld
Education on voters’ minds in Manassas
With about three hours left before polls close, voters outside their polling place at Jennie Dean Elementary School in Manassas have education on their minds, though for different reasons.
GOP gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin has leaned into education and anger over Critical Race Theory.
“The existing institutions have failed America’s students,” said GOP voter Walter Foreman, 23. “This election is about parents rising up and demanding what’s best for their kids.”
Foreman said he agreed with Youngkin’s plan to ban Critical Race Theory in Virginia schools.
In their final campaign pitches ahead of Tuesday’s election, both Youngkin and Democrat Terry McAuliffe made education a part of their closing arguments.
Independent voter Charles Mayfield, 42, said he was swayed by McAuliffe’s promise to support teachers.
“I want someone committed to teachers, he has promised to do that, Youngkin hasn’t,” Mayfield said.
– Jay Shakur
Education animates Youngkin voters in Northern Virginia
Bob and Judy Allen, retirees who have lived in Northern Virginia for 33 years, said they voted for Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin on Tuesday, mostly because “he’s not Terry McAuliffe, he’s not a Democrat,” Judy said.
Having put their kids through Virginia public schools, the Allens said they feel passionately about Youngkin’s stance on parents’ involvement in their children’s education.
Specifically, they want parents to be able to object to curriculum that involves Critical Race Theory.
“If my kids were to be educated right now, I wouldn’t put them in Fairfax County schools. I would probably homeschool them,” Judy Allen said. “Teachers now are putting a political spin on everything and that’s not their place.”
Bob said he thinks the “only good thing” about the pandemic is that “parents found out exactly what their kids were learning and being taught.”
– Jeannie Michele Kopstein
‘He’s like a mini-Trump’: Fairfax voters on Youngkin
FAIRFAX, Va. — First-time voter Vivienne Branson and her mother, Claire, a public schoolteacher from Fairfax, cast their votes for the Democratic ticket at Fairfax Government Center.
If Republicans take hold of the governorship, the Bransons would want to leave their home state of Virginia.
“He’s like a mini-Trump,” Vivienne said of GOP gubernatorial nominee Glen Youngkin. “I’m not doing that again.” Her mother, too, is “terrified of the prospect of having someone else like Trump in power” in Virginia.
“As a mother with daughters,” Claire said, “it’s important for me that they maintain their right to choose their reproductive path.” And for her children, she also wants to “follow the progressive agenda” toward renewable resources and climate change action.
These issues keep getting pushed aside, Claire said, and they’re not “anything I’ve ever heard anyone who’s conservative mention.”
The Bransons acknowledged that Youngkin has promised to support teachers and families, but Claire called this messaging “off-putting” and the “pandering” of a “tiny Trump.”
Claire worries that Youngkin is too detached to take care of his constituents. “I don’t think that someone who is a millionaire from Great Falls knows what the average working person goes through. I don’t think he would look out for us.”
— Julia Mueller
Fredericksburg elections officials request additional ballots to accommodate high voter turnout
FREDERICKSBURG, Virginia – Elections officials at Hugh Mercer Elementary School are preparing to request a third stack of additional ballots from the General Registrar’s Office after voter turnout exceeded their expectations.
Chief Election Officer Scott Vezina, 39, said he has seen a steady stream of voters all day, averaging 128 people per hour. His polling location was allotted 800 ballots Tuesday morning, which he deemed “a major underestimate.”
Vezina called the General Registrar’s Office at 8:30 a.m. to request 200 additional ballots and called again at 11:30 a.m. for 500 more. He said he will likely place a third request in the late afternoon, to account for an anticipated rush of commuters returning home from work.
“One of the electoral board members came here to see how things were going, and when I told her our numbers, they were like, ‘holy crap, you guys are just killing it,’” Vezina said. “And I was like, yeah, we’re pretty busy today. I’m surprised.”
Vezina projects his precinct will log upwards of 1,700 votes by the time polls close at 7 p.m.
Fredericksburg’s 101st Precinct has more registered voters than any other precinct in the city, according to the registrar’s office, but volunteer Kenneth Gantt, 61, said he was surprised to see similar voter turnout to what he observed in the 2020 presidential election.
The Army veteran, who has volunteered at the polls in Fredericksburg for the last three election cycles, said voters in his community are typically elderly and tend to favor Republicans, like gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin.
“The folks who really care about the issues, they always come out to vote,” Gantt said. “Where the influx comes is folks who have a real interest in some of the key issues of the governor’s race – the economy and our schools and the children.”
— Hannah Schoenbaum
Abortion challenges in spotlight
FREDERICKSBURG, Virginia – Recent challenges to abortion access at the Supreme Court have placed women’s rights at center stage in the Virginia gubernatorial race, according to voters at Hugh Mercer Elementary School.
Sarah Morealli, a faculty member at the University of Maryland, said that climate change and women’s rights were the most prominent issues for her during this election cycle.
Morealli, a registered Democrat, said that although she found it unlikely that a Texas-style law would be implemented in Virginia, it is an issue of high concern, especially given the controversial Texas abortion legislation.
The Texas law prohibits abortion after cardiac activity is detected in a fetus, which usually occurs around six weeks – a period before some women know they are pregnant. The law does not make exceptions for rape or incest.
“While I don’t think it’s likely that it will happen in Virginia, it is something I am concerned about and would like to make sure doesn’t happen in Virginia,” Morealli said.
While Democrat Terry McAuliffe has vowed to uphold access to abortion in the state, Republican Glenn Youngkin opposes abortion except in instances of rape, incest or to save the life of the pregnant individual.
Youngkin told liberal activists posing as anti-abortion advocates at a July gathering that if elected, “we can start going on offense.”
— Catherine Buchaniec
Learn more:Some Supreme Court justices skeptical of Texas abortion law, impact on other rights
These are potential game-changing issues to watch this Election Day in different states
— Nina Mandell
In 2022 midterms, a new ‘Big Lie’ battleground: secretary of state elections
Fredericksburg voters focused on education
FREDERICKSBURG, Virginia — For some voters outside of Hugh Mercer Elementary School on Election Day, which gubernatorial hopeful gets their vote comes down to education.
Caryn Vezina, 38, voted for Republican Glenn Youngkin. She said she likes his education politics and wants Virginia to go in another direction.
Vezina said Youngkin appeals to her experience as a mother and a preschool teacher.
“It didn’t make me happy that McAuliffe said that, you know, parents shouldn’t be involved with their children’s education,” Vezina said.
Vezina was referencing a statement Democrat Terry McAuliffe made in a gubernatorial debate on Sept. 29: “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”
Lawyer Shana Gertner, 42, cast her vote for the Democrat. She said she cares about access to education and wants to keep the state blue.
“My child is in private school, but I do care about public school and I do feel as though a lot of parents don’t really grasp the issues,” Gertner said.
— Isabel Miller
Stafford voters disagree on role of Trump and Biden
STAFFORD, Va. — On a rainy Tuesday at H.H. Poole Middle School, voters expressed opposing sentiments on how views toward President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump will affect today’s elections.
Kayla Thrasher, a 23-year-old student and assistant manager at Weis Markets, is a Democrat who describes herself as “very liberal.” She equated voting for Glenn Youngkin with voting for Trump.
“I’m not completely happy with how Biden is running the country right now, but I’m definitely 100% against Trump, so I’m kind of just voting against him,” Thrasher said, explaining her vote for former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe.
However, some Republican voters criticized the role that Trump and Biden have played in local elections.
“The role that that’s playing in the [political] game right now is actually, I think, getting a little old,” said Michelle Merritt, a Republican, 38, who works as a realtor.
Merritt pointed to the McAuliffe ads that target those who oppose Trump, saying they wrongfully assume an association between local and presidential elections.
“I don’t think people are coming out today to vote for one [candidate] or the other because of the hatred of another candidate,” Merritt said. “I think they’re voting on their own opinion and making their own opinion based on just that candidate, not the hatred or the love of another candidate.”
— Courtney Degen
More:7 things: What campaign ’21 says about campaign ’22 (including Biden, Trump and Black voters)
Brad Raffensperger, GOP target of Trump ire in Georgia, warns of potential for more election violence
eleventh-hour endorsement of Democratic state Rep. Allison Russo on Monday. Former President Donald Trump already had backed Republican Mike Carey, a coal lobbyist.
The two candidates are running in a district that favors the GOP to replace former Rep. Steve Stivers, a Republican who resigned to take a job in the private sector.
Carey also has gotten a boost from national Republican groups and a campaign visit from former Vice President Mike Pence, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
– Rick Rouan
Turnout high in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley
At one precinct in Augusta County, Virginia, chief election officer Lesley Piner said she had to ask the county for more ballots before lunchtime, having run out by 11 a.m.
Piner said the county only gave the precinct about 300 ballots for the day. They had surpassed that before noon.
“We’ve been very steady … more than I expected,” she said.
About 50 people in the precinct opted to vote early and more than 300 out of a total of 1,000 registered voters had voted in the morning — a number that shocked Piner.
“Normally, I would have thought we’d have 350 people for the entire day,” she said. “We’re going to surpass that, and it’s not even noon.”
Virginia’s polls close at 7 p.m.
– Laura Peters, Staunton News-Leader
Runoff likely in Atlanta mayoral race
ATLANTA — Former Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed is trying to return for a third term and City Council President Felicia Moore is seeking to move up to the top spot as voting concludes Tuesday in the city’s mayoral race.
Confronting rising crime has been a major focus, but candidates have also addressed concerns about affordable housing, bolstering struggling city services and keeping the wealthy Buckhead neighborhood from seceding. Attacks on Reed over corruption in his administration have been a major subplot, although Reed says the federal investigation regarding him was closed without charges.
With a total of 14 candidates in the nonpartisan race, a Nov. 30 runoff is likely. Other top candidates include attorney Sharon Gay and council members Andre Dickens and Antonio Brown, with large numbers of voters undecided.
Meanwhile, Republicans are watching for any mistakes in Atlanta that could justify a state takeover of elections in heavily Democratic Fulton County, under a sweeping new state law approved amid unproven claims of fraud by former President Donald Trump and his allies.
The race was jolted when Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced in May that she wouldn’t seek a second term. Bottoms broke a decades-long tradition of mayors serving eight years, saying she wasn’t interested in a reelection bid. The last Atlanta mayor who served only a single term was Sam Massell, who lost to Maynard Jackson in 1973 as African Americans took power in city government.
– Associated Press
Study: Voters with disabilities show ‘large gains’ in turnout
Voters with disabilities are enjoying a new era of political relevance this Election Day thanks to the COVID pandemic — both the reforms it spurred and the inequities it laid bare.
People with disabilities showed “large gains” in 2020’s voter turnout, said Steve Flamisch of Rutgers University’s Program for Disability Research, referring to a report by the university and the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.
Turnout rose to 17.7 million, up from 16 million in 2016, thanks to mail-in ballots and other initiatives, according to the group, which looked at national data.
– Gene Myers, NorthJersey.com
Democrat favored to win in New York mayor race
Eric Adams, a Democrat who is considered the frontrunner to win New York’s mayoral election, would be the second Black mayor in the city’s history if he is elected on Tuesday.
Adams is running against Republican Curtis Sliwa as the top elected official in America’s most populous city. Democrats outnumber Republicans in New York 7-to-1.
Adams is a former police captain and state senator. Sliwa founded a subway safety patrol group.
– Rick Rouan
Voting law changes tested in first election since 2020 presidential contest
Election Day is the first test for some of the hundreds of new voting laws adopted in the year since the 2020 election.
USA TODAY analyzed 254 new laws in 45 states passed since voters cast their ballots last year in the highest turnout election in American history. The analysis reveals changes, seen and unseen, to how we vote.
Those laws include changes to the number of days available for early voting and the hours available to cast ballots on Election Day.
Read more about the changes here.
Boston will elect a woman of color as mayor
In Boston, the contest between city council members Annissa Essaibi George and Michelle Wu means whomever wins will become the city’s first woman and first person of color elected mayor.
The candidates, both Democrats in a nonpartisan race, have chiefly clashed over issues such as affordable housing, public education and transportation. But differences on policing and crime have also emerged.
Wu, daughter of Taiwanese immigrants and a protégé of liberal Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, has called for major police reforms. Before she was a candidate, Wu joined other city council members in calling for a 10% cut to the police department’s budget.
Essaibi George, who describes herself as Polish-Arab American, has opposed reallocating the money and has called for hiring several hundred more police officers. She was endorsed by former Boston police Commissioner William Gross.
– Associated Press
Florida primary to narrow field for congressional seat
Voters in Florida’s 20th congressional district on Tuesday will narrow the wide field of primary candidates competing for the seat formerly held by Democratic Rep. Alcee Hastings, who died in April.
Eleven Democrats, two Republicans and a handful of other candidates are running in the southern Florida district.
The special general election is scheduled for Jan. 11.
– Rick Rouan
Races to watch on Election Day
While the Virginia governor’s race has been getting much of the national attention in the runup to Election Day, some other elections also could tell us more about what to expect in the 2022 midterm election.
Tigher-than-expected races for New Jersey governor and Ohio’s 15th congressional district could drop some hints about which way the political weather vane is pointing in 2022. Democrats will be trying to cling to their slim majority in the House next year.
Check out more about the races to watch on Election Day.
Analysis:‘A new American fault line’: How new election laws will make it harder for 55 million to vote