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Updated at 9:35 p.m. with complete unofficial returns from all four localities in the district.
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — U.S. Rep. Donald S. Beyer Jr. won the Democratic nomination in Virginia's 8th Congressional District on Tuesday, turning back four challengers, according to The Associated Press.
Beyer took 67.58% districtwide in complete unofficial returns, followed by Mo Seifeldein at 17.63%, Adam M. Dunigan at 8.97%, Michael Christian Duffin at 3.24% and Lorena Thorne Bruner at 2.58%.
Alexandria was the incumbent's weakest jurisdiction. Beyer took 65.30% here, against 66.62% in Arlington County, 69.55% in Fairfax County and 75.22% in Falls Church.
Seifeldein, a former Alexandria City Council member, ran strongest in the city, taking 20.03% — better than his 17.74% in Arlington, 16.20% in Fairfax and 13.89% in Falls Church. Both he and Beyer live in Alexandria.
The differences are modest. Beyer carried every jurisdiction in the district by wide margins and beat Seifeldein in Alexandria by 6,284 votes.
Election Day voters broke differently
A sharper divide ran across the whole district, and it was not geographic.
Beyer took 73.5% of the ballots cast before Tuesday — early in person and by mail — but 62.5% of the votes cast at polling places on Election Day. His four challengers drew 37.5% of the Election Day vote against 26.5% of everything cast earlier.
The pattern was most pronounced in Alexandria, where Beyer took 73.8% of early in-person ballots and 70.7% of mail ballots but 59.3% at the polls. Seifeldein ran the reverse: 24.4% on Election Day against 13.8% early and 16.2% by mail.
Districtwide, 58,634 votes were counted: 11,654 early in person, 31,489 on Election Day and 15,491 by mail.
Alexandria cast 13,882 of those, about 24% of the district total — 2,924 early in person, 7,360 on Election Day and 3,598 by mail.
The AP called the race at 7:34 p.m., 34 minutes after polls closed.
The general election
Beyer will face Republican Tony Sabio in November. The 8th District, which wraps around Washington, is among the most Democratic in Virginia; Gov. Abigail Spanberger carried about 80% of the vote there in last year's election.
In a statement, Beyer thanked voters and his opponents.
"I am grateful to Northern Virginians for again making me their Democratic nominee to fight for Virginia's 8th District," he said. "I want to thank my primary opponents for their willingness to run and serve."
He framed the fall campaign around control of Congress, saying Northern Virginians face rising prices and threats to the democratic system.
Beyer is seeking a seventh term. First elected to Congress in 2014, he served two terms as Virginia's lieutenant governor in the 1990s, was his party's nominee for governor in 1997, and was ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein under President Barack Obama.
Republican Senate primary
In the other contest on the city's ballot, Bert Mizusawa won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, the AP said, defeating Kim Farington and David E. Williams. The AP called that race at 7:29 p.m.
Mizusawa led statewide with 51.41%, followed by Williams at 28.97% and Farington at 19.62%.
Alexandria's Republicans were cooler toward the winner. With all 32 city precincts reporting, Mizusawa took 47.90% here, Williams 27.39% and Farington 24.71%. Farington ran about five points stronger in Alexandria than statewide.
Alexandria cast 1,526 votes in the Senate race, less than 1% of the statewide total.
Mizusawa will face Sen. Mark Warner, who was unopposed for the Democratic nomination, in the Nov. 3 general election. Warner, an Alexandria resident, has held the seat since 2009.
Turnout
Alexandria recorded 15,408 votes across both primaries, about 15% of the city's 99,811 active registered voters. Democratic ballots made up 13,882 of that total and Republican ballots 1,526.
Four precincts voted at new locations for this election: the former Blessed Sacrament precinct at North Quaker, the former City Hall precinct at Lyles Crouch School, the former George Mason School precinct at Trinity Church and the former View Alexandria precinct at Hope Way.
Why the primary was in August
Virginia usually holds congressional primaries in June. This year's moved to August to accommodate a redistricting push that voters approved and the courts then rejected.
The state Supreme Court struck down the Democrats' redrawn congressional map, leaving in place the boundaries used since 2021. By the time that became clear in May, candidates had already launched campaigns in districts that no longer existed as drawn. Some ended their bids, some shifted to other districts and others continued in less favorable races.
What's next
Tuesday's results are unofficial. Virginia accepts mail ballots postmarked by Election Day and received by noon Friday, and provisional ballots cast by same-day registrants are resolved separately. Local and state electoral boards canvass and certify results in the weeks that follow.
The general election is Nov. 3.
This story is developing and will be updated.
