Virginia Democrats have shattered their previous early voting record in a state-level primary, with an astounding surge in participation before the June 18th election. Over 189,000 Democratic ballots were cast, significantly eclipsing the 124,491 early votes recorded during the party’s 2021 primary, according to data from the Virginia Public Access Project.

This impressive turnout represents a substantial increase in Democratic engagement. The overall early voting numbers, encompassing both Democratic and Republican voters, exceeded 204,000 ballots. While the Democratic surge dominated, Republican early voting reached 15,610 votes.

A closer look at the voting methods reveals that 90,315 Democrats cast their ballots in person, while 98,772 opted for mail-in voting. The Republican early vote saw a far smaller participation with just over 10,900 in-person votes and roughly 4,700 mail-in votes.

The disparity in turnout between the two parties is largely attributed to the uncontested nature of the Republican primaries for the three statewide offices. With only one candidate qualifying for each race (Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, and Governor), Republican voters primarily focused their attention on down-ballot races at the legislative and local levels.