Tuesday is Primary Day in Virginia

Tuesday is Primary day across Virginia as Democrats and Republicans go to the polls to select candidates to run in the November General Election.

According to Pulaski County Registrar Kathy Webb, voters going to the polls on Tuesday must declare which primary they wish to vote in – Democrat or Republican. “They cannot participate in both,” Webb stressed.

She reminded that countians going to the polls must bring their photo ID with them to vote.

Polls open Tuesday at 6 a.m. just like any other election, and close at 7 p.m.

On the Democratic side, voters in Tuesday’s primary in Pulaski County have one choice to make – who they want to challenge incumbent Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem in the fall.

They have two candidates to choose from – Anthony Flaccavento or Justin Santopietro.

Flaccavento, a farmer and entrepreneur, should sound familiar to Democrats.  He opposed Griffith in 2012, and was defeated soundly, 61 percent to 39 percent.

Santopietro is a 26-year-old from Blacksburg.

Griffith has already secured the Republican Party’s nomination for Congress in the Ninth District. Griffith is seeking his fifth term in the U.S. House.

In 2010, he upset long-time Rep. Rick Boucher by nearly five percent of the vote. He was re-elected in 2012 easily over Flaccavento, and in 2014 by an even greater margin, 72 percent to 24 percent over William Carr.

In his most recent re-election bid, Griffith captured 69 percent of the vote in 2016 to beat Derek Kitts (28 percent) and Janice Boyd (3 percent).

As for the Republican primary, Pulaski County voters will make their choice to be the party’s nominee for U.S. Senate.

Corey Stewart, Nick Freitas and E.W. Jackson are seeking the nomination.

Stewart came within an eye lash of winning the Republican Party’s gubernatorial nomination in 2017, losing to eventual nominee Ed Gillespie by only 1.2 percent of the vote. Gillespie went on to lose the governor’s race to Democrat Ralph Northam.

Freitas is a member of the Virginia House of Delegates representing the 30th District around the Culpeper area of Virginia.  He was first elected in 2015.

An Army veteran, he served two tours in Iraq.

Jackson was the Republican Party’s nominee for Lt. Governor in the 2013 election, losing to Northam.

The winner of the Republican Primary statewide Tuesday will face incumbent Democrat Sen. Tim Kaine.

Kaine, who served as governor from 2006-2010, was first elected to the Senate in 2012. He was the Democratic Party’s nominee for Vice President in 2016 running with Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

Visit www.pcpatriot.com on Tuesday evening to see how Pulaski County voted as well as results from across the Ninth District and Virginia.

By MIKE WILLIAMS, The Patriot