ELECTION 2021: Henrico voters cast ballots in races for state office

Henrico voters are casting their ballots today in races for the House of Delegates and the state’s top three elected offices – governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general.

In Henrico, the most competitive of the former bunch is expected to be the rematch in the 73rd House district, which features Democrat Rodney Willett attempting to win his second term by defeating Republican challenger Mary Margaret Kastelberg – the same opponent he defeated two years ago to win the seat. Willett held more than a 2-to-1 financial advantage, having raised more than $1.7 million to Kastelberg’s $815,000.

Other races of note involve the 72nd, in which two-term Democrat Schuyler VanValkenburg is facing Republican challenger Christopher Holmes; and the 56th, in which two-term Republican John McGuire is facing competition from Democrat Blakely Lockhart. Both of those incumbents held large financial advantages over their challengers, according to the Virginia Public Access Project – McGuire (with more than $535,000) by nearly a 5-to-1 margin, VanValkenburg (with nearly $1.2 million) by nearly a 4-to-1 margin.

A tiny portion of Henrico sits in the 68th District, which features a competitive race between two-term Democrat Dawn Adams and Republican challenger Mark Earley, Jr. Half of the district lies in Chesterfield and about 45% in Richmond.

Elsewhere, incumbent Democrat Lamont Bagby is expected to win his fourth full term in the 74th District easily over Republican challenger Jimmy Brooks, who has raised just more than $6,000 to Bagby’s $574,000. And 70th District representative Delores McQuinn seemed likely to win her seventh full-term in a race against independent David Vaught.

Both Bagby and McQuinn represent heavily Democratic districts; each first took office by winning a special election to fill the remainder of an existing term.

There are 236,224 registered voters in Henrico; 18.5% of them (43,891) cast their ballots before Election Day, according to Henrico Registrar Mark Coakley. About 6,100 absentee-by-mail ballots are outstanding; if they're postmarked by Nov. 2 and returned by Nov. 5 at noon, they'll count.

Most voting early Tuesday was conducted without incident, though the precinct at Johnson Elementary School opened 10 minutes late because of a medical issue, according to Virginia Department of Elections Commission Chris Piper, and several other precincts were dealing with scanners that jammed when voters inserted their ballots.

“Election officials are following the proper protocols while waiting for the technicians to fix the issues,” he said.

While Henrico isn't viewed as a swing county in the gubernatorial race between Democrat Terry McAuliffe and Republican Glenn Youngkin – the county has been reliably in the Democratic camp for years now – the margin of McAuliffe's anticipated victory here could be telling, with a narrow margin possibly suggesting a similarly close tally statewide. Various polls have shown a virtual dead heat statewide between the two men, while others have suggested Youngkin is leading.