About 30% of Alexandria voters are expected to turn out at the polls on election day today, Nov. 7.
As of 10 a.m. — four hours after polls opened — 21,661 voters cast their ballots, which is about 23% of the city’s 96,232 active registered voters. A vast majority of those ballots, 13,927 votes (64%), are from absentee voters. Also as of 10 a.m., 7,734 voters cast their ballots in person, according to the city’s Office of Voter Registration and Elections.
Alexandria Registrar Angie Turner said her office is basing the 30% estimate on the turnouts of the 2015 and 2019 elections, which were both non-presidential and Congressional election years with members of the Virginia General Assembly on the ballot.
“So, 2015 and 2019 are our last comparable elections, and both of those elections hovered right at about 32%,” Turner told ALXnow.
As previously reported, the only contests on the ballot in Alexandria are for the 39th District of the Virginia State Senate and three House of Delegates districts. The City’s solid block of Democratic voters makes the prospect of defeat unlikely.
Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-31) is running against Republican Sophia Moshasha for the newly redrawn 39th District and has campaigned that a Republican takeover of the State Senate would result in catastrophe for women’s reproductive rights.
Incumbent Delegates Charniele Herring (D-46) and Elizabeth Bennett-Parker (D-45) are both running unopposed, for the new 4th and 5th Districts. Incumbent Del. Alfonso Lopez (D-49), the incumbent Democrat for the 3rd District, is up for re-election and is challenged by independent Major Mike Webb, a frequent candidate for office in Arlington County.
Alexandria Republican Committee Chair Annetta Catchings, who is considering a second run at the city’s mayorship next year, spoke to voters outside Charles E. Beatley, Jr. Central Library, and said that the city has a growing base of Republicans.
“Over the last week I’ve talked to a lot of residents, and it only confirms what I know,” Catchings told ALXnow. “The city of Alexandria isn’t as blue as people think.”
Just after 10 a.m., a Democratic voter started shouting at Catchings.
“You are insane,” the woman told Catchings. “Republicans are against me as a woman, they’re against me as a Black person. How are you supporting Trump? You think Trump likes Black people? You think he supports you?”
Catchings invited the woman to coffee after she voted.
The Alexandria Republican Committee has no formal election night watch party organized. The Alexandria Democratic Committee will host an election night watch party at Pork Barrel BBQ (2312 Mount Vernon Avenue) after polls close at 7 p.m.
