Three Northern Virginia Republicans are competing in Virginia primary 2026 for the GOP nomination to challenge Mark Warner. Polls are open until 7 p.m., and the winner on Aug. 4 will become his general-election opponent.
Mark Warner is seeking a fourth term and has said this will be his last campaign to seek reelection. He won by double digits in 2020, and Stephen Farnsworth said, "What you see in Virginia is really quite different than the Democratic challenges in other parts of the country."
Kim Farington in Virginia
Kim Farington is a certified public accountant with decades of experience working for the Defense Department, Office of Personnel Management, U.S. Department of Agriculture and the White House. After leaving government work, she founded a small business focused on financial management and cybersecurity.
She has stressed financial reform, economic issues like inflation, reducing the size of government and strong border security. That gives her a profile built around government spending and business operations rather than a single federal issue.
Bert Mizusawa and David Williams
Bert Mizusawa is a retired Army major general who commanded a unit in Afghanistan. He has also worked in various positions in the federal government, including as an adviser to the CIA director, and he has stressed national security, foreign policy and military readiness.
David Williams served in the Navy and then the Marine Corps. He was deployed twice to Iraq and later worked for the State Department and the CIA.
Warner's cash advantage
Farnsworth said, "He has a huge cash advantage and the three Republicans who have announced that they plan to challenge him are all struggling to raise money and get public attention in an environment where Democrats are very much looking at a tail wind nationally." That leaves the primary winner with the immediate task of building name recognition and money for a race against a sitting senator.
Which of the three Republican candidates is best positioned to win the Aug. 4 primary remains the open question, and the answer will determine who faces Warner in Virginia Senate this fall.
