Historic Triangle picks Gillespie, Northam in gubernatorial primary

In June 2017, former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie won the Republican nomination for governor of Virginia, while Democratic Lieutenant Governor Ralph Northam secured the Democratic nomination. The two candidates were set to face each other in the November general election to succeed Governor Terry McAuliffe, whose term was scheduled to end in January. McAuliffe had endorsed Northam the previous year.

The Republican primary was unexpectedly close, with Gillespie winning a narrow victory. He received 43.71 percent of the vote compared to 42.53 percent for Corey Stewart, a candidate who heavily emphasized his support for Trump. Analysts reported at the time that the tight margin surprised political observers and demonstrated the strength of Trump’s appeal among Republican voters in the state. Gillespie had largely kept his distance from Trump during the campaign, while fending off Stewart and an unnamed state senator.

On the Democratic side, the primary was framed by some observers as a continuation of the national rivalry between the wings of the party represented by Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, though reports noted this comparison was not entirely accurate. In the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor, former federal prosecutor Justin Fairfax won the nomination with 49.1 percent of the vote, defeating former Joe Biden chief of staff Susan Platt and former federal prosecutor Gene Rossi. There was no primary election held for the office of attorney general.