Jessica Kronzer

| jkronzer@wtop.com

Voters in several Northern Virginia districts are nominating candidates Tuesday who could be elected to serve on the state’s House of Delegates.

Whoever wins Tuesday’s contests will compete in a special election on Jan. 13, 2026, for vacated seats in the Virginia General Assembly, where Democrats currently hold a 63-37 majority.

The series of shake-ups comes as several Democratic lawmakers step down from the House of Delegates to join Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger’s administration.

Two of the resigning lawmakers represent Northern Virginia: Del. David Bulova, of Fairfax City and Fairfax County; and Del. Candi Mundon King, of Prince William and Stafford counties.

Last week, Spanberger named Bulova as her pick for Virginia’s next secretary of natural and historic resources.

And the future governor tapped King to serve as the secretary of the commonwealth.

Each party has until Dec. 17 to submit a nominee to the Virginia Board of Elections for next month’s special election, according to a writ of special elections filed by Virginia House Speaker Don Scott.

Five candidates are running for the Democratic nomination in a firehouse primary, including the exiting delegate’s wife, Gretchen Bulova, as well as Vanessa Cardenas, So Lim, Douglas Shuster and Denver Supinger.

Any voter registered in Virginia House of Delegates District 11 can participate — but they have to sign a declaration of support for the Democratic Party, according to the democratic committees in Fairfax County and Fairfax City. In a firehouse primary, the political parties organize the contest, not the state.