Virginia — 1st District

Henrico County Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor won the Democratic nomination in Virginia’s 1st Congressional District Tuesday night.

The Associated Press called the race for Taylor less than an hour after polls closed. With 94% of the vote counted, Taylor carried 53% of the vote in the seven-person race.

Seven Democrats vied for the chance to take on U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Westmoreland, for the 1st Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. Those candidates were Salaam Bhatti, Tim Cywinski, Elizabeth Dempsey Beggs, Jason Knapp, Ericka Kopp, Taylor and Mel Tull.

Tuesday night’s unofficial results showed Bhatti with 20% of the vote, Knapp with 10%, Beggs with 7%, Tull with 4%, and Cywinski and Kopp each with 3%.

Taylor, who has been the commonwealth’s attorney for Henrico County since 2012, had a commanding fundraising advantage over her opponents, raising more than $2.1 million as of July 15, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. The next closest candidate was Knapp, with nearly $600,000.

Taylor gathered with supporters in Henrico at Rare Olde Times restaurant after polls closed Tuesday.

In a news release sent after the Associated Press called the race, Taylor’s campaign indicated she would seek to leverage her experience as commonwealth’s attorney to appeal to voters.

“As Henrico’s top prosecutor, I have worked with Democrats, Republicans, and independents to keep my community safe and stood up to them when it was necessary,” she said. “I will bring that same approach to Congress. I am ready to fight to lower costs, expand access to affordable health care, and to clean up the corruption in Washington that is hurting all of us.”

Taylor had the advantage of a previous statewide campaign. She narrowly lost the Democratic nomination for Virginia Attorney General to Jay Jones last year.

All but one of the Democratic candidates reside in the suburban Richmond counties of Henrico, Hanover and Chesterfield. Knapp is from Reedville on the Northern Neck. In Hampton Roads, the 1st District includes James City, York and Gloucester counties along with the cities of Williamsburg and Poquoson. Thirteen additional eastern and central Virginia counties comprise the remainder of the district.

Wittman, who has represented the 1st District since 2007, is seeking his 11th term. He has won reelection by double-digit margins in each of his races for Congress. The general election is Nov. 3.

A couple changes motivated Democrats to make a strong push to unseat Wittman this year. A regular statewide redistricting in 2021 added to the district parts of Henrico and Chesterfield counties, both of which have seen trends toward more Democratic support. The blue-leaning city of Williamsburg also became part of the 1st District.

In the 2025 gubernatorial election, a narrow majority of 1st District voters chose Democrat Abigail Spanberger over her Republican challenger, bucking a longtime trend for the reliably conservative district.

First District Democrats made a final push ahead of in-person voting today, with targeted text messages and social media posts, along with personal pleas for support. Josh Harris, campaign manager for Knapp, said that he, Knapp and volunteers canvassed in Chesterfield and Henrico on Monday, delivering final pitches on voters’ doorsteps.

Throughout the district, Democratic candidates spent Tuesday stopping by polling places to speak with voters. Bhatti was up early dropping off signs at polls before they opened at 6 a.m., then greeting voters and delivering campaign literature at supporters’ homes throughout the district.

Kopp was also at polling places in Chesterfield and Henrico throughout the day to thank voters for their support.

Cywinski, who spent the day hopping around between precincts in the 1st District, said that he is incredibly proud of the campaign he waged during the primary, and that he visited every jurisdiction in the constituency.

“We made a promise that every voice matters and we proved it,” he said.

Cywinski was appreciative that he waged the campaign the way that he wanted to, even as he conceded it might not have been the best way to raise money. Cywinski said his team’s effort raised the standard for what it means to run a political campaign.

Across Virginia’s 11 congressional districts, Democratic primaries were held in five congressional districts and Republican primaries were held in three districts. There was also a Republican primary for one of the state’s U.S. Senate seats.

Ben Swenson, [email protected]