Rep. Don Beyer (D-8) and Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) declared victories in their reelection bids during an election night event in Alexandria Tuesday night.
As polls closed at 7 p.m., the Associated Press called the race for Warner over Republican challenger Bert Mizusawa.
“I’m incredibly grateful to the people of Virginia for putting their faith in me one more time,” Warner said in remarks at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center.
Warner won a fourth term to the U.S. Senate, where he serves as vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Mizusawa is a retired Army major general and Afghanistan war veteran.
With 132 of 133 localities reporting, Warner had 60.29% of votes, according to unofficial results. Warner’s victory comes in a state with some of the highest numbers of federal workers, who bore the brunt of President Donald Trump’s efforts to slash the government workforce early in his second term.
At 8:05 p.m. AP called the 8th Congressional District race for Beyer over Republican Tony Sabio, Libertarian Shelly Arnoldi, and independent candidate Tim Sharman. Unofficial results showed Beyer with 79.38% of votes with all four localities reporting votes. The 8th district includes all of Alexandria, Arlington and the city of Falls Church and part of Fairfax County.
Beyer, who is serving his sixth term, told ALXnow he doesn’t expect a “warm and friendly relationship” if Democrats win control of Congress.
“I think we will try to use the budgets and the debt ceiling coming up as leverage points to stop the most odious things that he’s doing,” Beyer said. “For example, we’re very concerned about all the money that was authorized, appropriated, and that he didn’t spend, that he withheld. And hopefully we can use the budget process to make it ever clearer, make it more difficult for him to withhold money that should be spent, literally spent.”
Speaking to reporters at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center, Beyer indicated affordability and reversing tariffs are priorities for Democrats should they gain control of Congress.
“The second thing is on corruption,” Beyer said. “I think what we’ll be doing is lots of good oversight work, trying to get the facts, the history of the corruption on the table. Sunlight is a great disinfectant. And that’s all we’re going to have is sunlight through the oversight.”
Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-11), who represents the neighboring 11th Congressional District in Fairfax County and city of Fairfax, also declared a win in his reelection bid. Walkinshaw first won a special election for the seat after the death of former Rep. Gerry Connolly.
Walkinshaw told ALXnow Democrats’ job “is to take what we’ve had, which is the least productive Congress in history, and make it the most productive Congress in history.”
“We’ve got to get our work done, get legislation passed, get it to the president’s desk,” Walkinshaw said. “I think as Democrats, obviously, we want him to sign it. But if he says he wants to negotiate and find a compromise, we need to be reasonable and try to do that. I can say to date, this President hasn’t shown any interest in doing that with Democrats.”
Mayor Alyia Gaskins told ALXnow Alexandria has “been really fortunate to have leaders in Senator Warner and Congressman Beyer who have shown up every time we have needed help.”
“We’ve had a lot of major issues, from transportation to flooding,” Gaskins said. “Having a Democratic majority means that we’re going to be able to ensure that critical resources like SNAP aren’t cut, that there’s good funding for educational programs, that the basic needs of our residents are able to be met because we have a federal government that’s finally showing up to help and support working people.”
According to unofficial results, three constitutional amendments regarding reproductive rights, same-sex marriage and voting rights after serving felony sentences appeared headed for approval.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
