Northam and Gillespie win Virginia primaries

Ralph Northam (left) and Ed Gillespie will be on the November ballot [WTOP]

In a hotly contested Democratic primary contest for governor of Virginia, Ralph Northam got 55.9 percent of the vote, easily beating Tom Perriello, with 44.1 percent.

Ed Gillespie Jr., former chair of the Republican National Committee, won the Republican primary for governor with just 43.7 percent of the vote, compared to 42.5 percent for Corey Stewart.
Gillespie, billed as the moderate choice, had been expected to crush Stewart, a strong supporter of President Trump who serves as chair of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors. Frank Wagner, a state senator, came in a distant third, with 13.75 percent of the vote.

Northam, the current lieutenant governor, got 60.05 percent of the vote in Fairfax County. In Mason District, Perriello, who served one term in the U.S. Congress, got more than a majority of votes in three precincts: Holmes #1, Westlawn, and Bren Mar. Northam did the best in the Crossroads, Ridgelea, and Camelot precincts.

Gillespie had a better showing in Fairfax County (47.7 percent) than in Virginia as a whole.
Stewart won in several Mason precincts: Barcroft, Belvedere, Bristow, Glen Forest, Holmes #1, Masonville, Hummer, and Brook Hill.

Justin Fairfax, a former federal prosecutor who lives in Annandale, handily won a three-way race for lieutenant governor in the Democratic primary, with 49.1 percent of the vote.

The other candidates were Susan Platt, a former political consultant (39.2 percent), and Gene Rossi, a former federal prosecutor (11.7 percent). Fairfax got 49.2 percent of the vote in Fairfax County and 72.1 percent in his home precinct of Camelot. None of the three had held elective office before.

Virginia Sen. Jill Vogel won the Republican primary for lieutenant governor, with 42.8 percent of the vote, beating two other members of the General Assembly: Bryce Reeves (40 percent) and Glenn Davis Jr. (17.2 percent).