Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker (D-5) has been declared the winner in a firehouse primary for Virginia’s 39th District Senate seat, defeating three opponents with 70.6% of the 4,647 ballots cast.
Bennett Parker received 3,281 votes, followed by former Del. Mark Levine with 807 votes (17.4%), Charles Sumpter with 321 votes (6.9%) and former Vice Mayor Amy Jackson with 238 votes (5.1%), according to ballots counted by the Alexandria Democratic Committee.
About 4% of the city’s roughly 113,620 registered voters participated in the primary. The district itself, which has about 151,411 registered voters and also includes parts of Fairfax County and South Arlington, saw turnout near 3.1%.
ADC released results just before 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 14 — seven-and-a-half hours after polls closed at 7 p.m.
ADC released the election turnout on its website and social media channels. The election was held from 8:30 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday from four polling places — two in Alexandria, one in Arlington and the fourth in Fairfax County.
Ballots were collected and transported to ADC’s office in Del Ray, where four tellers and a supervisor hand-counted them, according to ADC Chair Jon DeNunzio.
Bennett-Parker left for the General Assembly session in Richmond after polls closed in Alexandria. In an email sent to supporters this morning (Wednesday), she thanked the district’s voters and said she is “excited to get back to Richmond and serve our community.”
“I am looking forward to working on our shared priorities: lowering costs for families, funding our schools, standing up for our rights against Trump and MAGA extremists, protecting our communities from gun violence, and preserving access to our health care choices. I am especially thankful for the volunteers who knocked doors, made calls, greeted at the polls, and worked hard for this campaign in these last few days. I also want to thank the other candidates for stepping up in this election, and their willingness to serve this community.”
She now faces Republican Julie Robben Lineberry in the special election on Feb. 10.
It was a frenetic six-day campaign for Bennett-Parker, who declared her candidacy less than an hour after Sen. Adam Ebbin sent out a mass email on Jan. 7 announcing his resignation to join Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger’s administration. Within days, she received endorsements from Spanberger, Ebbin, Democratic leaders in the General Assembly, Mayor Alyia Gaskins and a number of her City Council colleagues.
On Monday, Bennett-Parker also appeared with Levine and Sumpter for a hastily assembled debate.
“All of the work that I’ve done in previous campaigns has helped lay the groundwork for this,” Bennett-Parker told ALXnow yesterday (Tuesday), outside Charles Houston Recreation Center. “The staff I have are an amazing team who know who to call and how to make things happen quickly.”
Bennett-Parker was elected Alexandria’s vice mayor in her first election in 2019. She held the seat until 2021, when she defeated Levine in the Democratic primary.
She said that she and her team knocked on more than 1,300 doors during her short campaign. She also filmed the following digital ad last Thursday, Jan. 8.
Levine spent all day at two polling locations — Charles E. Beatley, Jr. Central Library in the city’s West End and at Charles Houston Recreation Center in Old Town. In the final hours of the brief race, he spoke to voters outside Charles Houston, while his small dog, named Falafel, obediently sat on his left shoulder.
“I’m feeling good,” Levine said. “I’m not going to tell you I’m going to win, but I’m feeling good. There’s an energy that I feel in the air, that I felt in 2015, but I didn’t feel in 2021. We’ll see. Let the people decide, let this election show that people still care about democracy, they don’t want two-day elections where one candidate is the only one who can run. They want a fair election.”
Levine also didn’t rule out running for Bennett-Parker’s seat in the House of Delegates — the seat he previously held.
“We’ll see what happens after tonight,” Levine said. “I’m running for this race. We’ll see. Anything can happen.”
Sumpter was also at Charles Houston at the end of the day, and said that he was tired.
“It’s fun,” Sumpter said. “I get to talk to a lot of people about things that I care about, but it’s exhausting. I’m going home. I’m tired. I need a nice beverage, gonna sit, get some music on, have some friends over and watch the results.”
Should Bennett-Parker depart the House of Delegates, the move would trigger another special election for her 5th District seat. At least one potential candidate is out there: City Council member R. Kirk McPike, who previously told ALXnow he is considering running.
