And 14 hours out from polls opening in Virginia for its congressional primaries. Polls open at 6 a.m. tomorrow, they close at 7 p.m. and keep in mind as long as you're in line by seven, you will be allowed to vote. And if you're voting by mail and ballot, it must be postmarked on or before tomorrow. It also must be received by your general registrar's office by noon on Monday the 24th. And keep in mind we are watching several key races this election, the race for the seventh district congressional seat is up for grabs. Abigail Spanberger will vacate the seat so she can run for governor next year. The district 10 seat also up for grabs. Current representative Jennifer Wex is retiring for health reasons. Republicans will also vote for a senate candidate to run against democratic Senator Tim Kaine. This November. Now, in addition to the congressional races, there are some really big local races. Alexandria holds its democratic primary for mayor and city council. There are also democratic primaries for Manassas City Council and Arlington County board ranked choice voting will be used in Arlington County. Well, today I spoke with Virginia political expert David Ramadan, he's a professor of practice at George Mason's University of Shar School. He weighed in on why the district 10 race is one of the most important to watch. Majority in congress is at stake and this will be a safe democratic seat regardless of who wins it among the 12 Democrats that are vying for it. Um That person will likely be the next congressman or congresswoman from the Virginia 10. This becomes a turnout game especially when you have 12 or eight or nine candidates in a congressional district becomes a very micro targeted um campaign. And whoever can bring in a certain segment of the community will likely be the uh the candidate for the party that they're running. Uh with. I also spoke with Professor Stephen Farnsworth, he's a professor of Political Science at the University of Mary Washington. He weighed in on why voting during, during a primary can be really effective. I think one good thing to appreciate about primaries is the turnout tends to be really, really low. You might be looking at 10 to 12% of the electorate in highly contested races. That means that you as an individual voter have more of an opportunity to participate and to be heard and that vote counts for more. Don't forget you can text the word vote to 202895, 5599 to get a link with direct access to this year's election guide. And the guide has a look at some of the other races that we are watching closely this election. You can also find everything you need to know right now on our website W USA nine.com.
