Primary elections are June 18, but in-person early voting takes place through June 15. Races on the ballot in November include one of Virginia’s U.S. Senate seats and all 11 House of Representatives seats. But not every seat will have a primary election.

Races with primaries in Hampton Roads:

• U.S. Senate seat — Republican primary
• 1st Congressional District — Democratic primary
• 2nd Congressional District — Democratic primary

No Democrats are challenging Sen. Tim Kaine in the primary, but five Republicans are competing to run against him in November. They are Hung Cao, Edward “Eddie” Garcia Jr., Jonathan Emord, C.L. “Chuck” Smith, Jr., and Scott Parkinson.

Three congressional districts represent areas in Hampton Roads, and Democratic primaries will be held in two. In the 1st District, Leslie Mehta and Herbert Jones Jr. will compete in the June primary to run against Republican Rep. Rob Wittman in November. The district includes portions of suburban Richmond down through York and James City counties, Williamsburg and Poquoson.

In the 2nd District, Missy Cotter Smasal and Jeremiah “Jake” Denton IV will vie for the Democratic nomination. The winner will challenge Republican Rep. Jen Kiggans in what is considered among the most competitive House races in the nation. Kiggans unseated Elaine Luria in 2022. The district spans the Eastern Shore, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Suffolk, Isle of Wight and Franklin.

There are no primaries for the 3rd District seat, held by Democrat Bobby Scott. The district includes all of Norfolk, Portsmouth, Hampton and Newport News, and part of Chesapeake.

Virginia is an open primary state, meaning voters can request a Democratic or Republican ballot. All qualified voters may vote in either primary, but not both. Voting in a party’s primary does not mean the voter will be “registered” with that party, as the state does not have party registration.

Registered voters who want to vote early in-person should go to the general registrar’s office for the jurisdiction where they are registered. Voters can find the location of the registrar’s office for all jurisdictions on the Virginia Department of Elections’ website at:  vote.elections.virginia.gov/VoterInformation/PublicContactLookup.

Newport News also is offering early in-person voting on some days at City Center Fountain Plaza at 700 Town Center Drive. For information on dates and times, check elections.virginia.gov/casting-a-ballot/early-voting-office-locations/.

For a list of acceptable forms of identification, visit: elections.virginia.gov/registration/voterid/.

Requested absentee ballots will be mailed, including ballots to registered military and overseas voters. Registered voters can request an absentee ballot either in-person, by mail, online (vote.elections.virginia.gov/VoterInformation/Lookup/absentee) or by contacting their general registrar’s office. No reason is needed to request an absentee ballot. The deadline to request ballot by mail is June 7.

Voters can drop off their absentee ballot at the general registrar’s office or polling location on Election Day. If voters return absentee ballots by mail, the ballots must be postmarked on or before June 18.

The deadline to register to vote in the primary and to cast a regular ballot is May 28. Anyone who registers after that date, including on the day of the primary, can vote using a provisional ballot.

Andrea Noble, andrea.noble@virginiamedia.com. 

Here’s a look at some of the early voting turnout and the amount of money raised by some candidates this year:

Early voting began Sept. 22 and ended Saturday. During that time, 776,931 people cast ballots in Virginia, according to the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project. That’s compared to 1,194,185 people who voted early in the 2021 elections. A little more than a third of the 3.2 million votes cast in Virginia’s 2021 general elections were cast through early voting or absentee ballot.

Early voting turnout appears down compared to 2021, when the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and House of Delegates seats were on the ballot. Here are the number of ballots cast during early voting in Hampton Roads cities, according to VPAP:

• Chesapeake: 21,939, compared to 39,904 in 2021
• Hampton: 9,081, compared to 16,437 in 2021
• Newport News: 10,286, compared to 16,395 in 2021
• Norfolk: 11,897, compared to 20,026 in 2021
• Portsmouth: 5,753, compared to 8,366 in 2021
• Suffolk: 10,273, compared to 12,262 in 2021
• Virginia Beach: 38,489, compared to 56,045 in 2021

The popularity of early and absentee voting grew during the pandemic, when Virginia eased restrictions on the practice. Democrats at the national and state level have traditionally promoted early and mail-in voting as a secure process that makes it easier to cast ballots. But this year, Republicans launched their own initiative to encourage early voting.

2023 Virginian-Pilot Election Guide

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Campaign finance reports due Oct. 30 detail the most recent donations and expenditures by state Senate and House campaigns. Here’s how much was raised in political campaigns across the state from Oct. 1 through Oct. 26, according to analysis by VPAP.

• Democratic Senate campaigns raised $12.7 million.
• Republican Senate campaigns raised $10.6 million.
• Democratic House campaigns raised $14.2 million.
• Republican House campaigns raised $8.4 million.

In Hampton Roads, some campaigns have raked in millions of dollars over the course of the election season. The Senate District 24 race on the Peninsula, between Sen. Monty Mason and retired York-Poquoson sheriff Danny Diggs, is shaping up to be one of the most expensive. Here’s what the candidates’ campaigns raised in 2023, according to the latest Oct. 30 campaign finance reports:

• Diggs, a Republican, raised $3.56 million.
• Mason, a Democrat, raised $4.46 million.

Fundraising in another closely contested Hampton Roads race, House District 97 in Virginia Beach, also appears notable. As of Oct. 30, campaign finance reports from 2023 show:

• Democrat Michael Feggans raised $3.18 million.
• Republican Del. Karen Greenhalgh raised $2.73 million.

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In Virginia, politicians can legally spend campaign donations on essentially anything, and there’s no limit on who can donate or how much they can give. The lax rules make the commonwealth an outlier when it comes to laws on campaign spending.

Spending on statehouse campaigns has trended upward in recent years.

In the Senate, where 40 seats are up for election every four years, about $56.2 million was spent on elections in 2019, according to data from VPAP. That’s up from $52.5 million from 2015 and $42.6 million in 2011. The uptick was more notable in the House, where 100 seats are up for grabs every two years. Campaign spending totaled $81.4 million in 2021, up from $68.1 million in 2019 and $47 million from 2017.

Andrea Noble, andrea.noble@virginiamedia.com

Virginia Beach is expected to welcome about 50,000 guests for Pharrell’s music festival, and the The Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press have your go-to guide for the second day of activities.

Weather was a challenge early Friday, with heavy rains and high winds forcing the music festival to delay it’s start by about five hours. On Saturday, festival gates are scheduled to open at noon. Shuttle service from the amphitheater will also begin at noon and run continuously until two hours after the music ends.

For a weekend-wide rundown of the festival, including parking options and street closures, visit The Virginian-Pilot’s full guide here.

Weather

Saturday will be a welcome change from a rainy opening day, but Sunday will likely bring rain again, according to the National Weather Service forecast. There’s scarcely any chance of rain during the day Saturday, at 1% as of Friday evening. The day is forecast to be partly sunny and temperatures expected to reach the low-70s in the afternoon before dipping back into the 60s in the evening.

Sunday is a different story, with the likelihood of rain increasing after midnight. The final day of the festival could see thunderstorms during the day, and the 80% chance of precipitation stays consistent until 7 p.m. when it will start to clear up, the forecast shows. Wind is expected to increase from 8-13 mph to 14-20 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph.

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Who’s playing?

Something in the Water has two main stages for performances: Solar and Lunar. Here is today’s lineup:

Solar Stage (3rd Street)

12:30 to 12:50 p.m.: Gigi Perez

1:10 to 1:40 p.m.: Riovaz

2 to 2:35 p.m.: Umi

3:05 to 3:50 p.m.: Kamasi Washington

4:10 to 4:55 p.m.: Coi Leray

5:25 to 6:05 p.m.: The Kid Laroi

6:40 to 7:05 p.m.: Jonas Brothers

7:40 to 8:30 p.m.: Lil Yachty

9:05 to 9:50 p.m.: Summer Walker

10:45 p.m.: Pharrell’s Phriends

Lunar Stage (12th Street)

12:20 to 12:45 p.m.: Black Sherif

1:05 to 1:40 p.m.: Weston Estate

2:05 to 2:45 p.m.: Badbadnotgood

3:15 to 4 p.m.: SWV

4:25 to 5:10 p.m.: Wet Leg

5:35 to 6:20 p.m.: Latto

6:50 to 7:50 p.m.: Kaytranda

8:25 to 9:15 p.m.: Machine Gun Kelly

9:45 p.m.: Lil Wayne

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Watch live

You can watch the festival live on YouTube here.

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Other stages and events

The three-day music festival has partnered with Hampton Roads-based musicians to create lineups for three community stages. The stages will be just outside the ticketed festival’s grounds at the Oceanfront and host about several hours of music each day.

At Area 75, or the 17th Street stage, Saturday’s events run from noon to 7 p.m. and include music from Study Your Arts and house music DJs Sunnyside Collective. Here’s the day’s lineup:

Noon: Novakane Omega

1:30 p.m. Floyd Vader

3 p.m. Initial Eyes

4 p.m. J. Parrish b2b Glenjamin Buttonz

5 p.m. E-Bach b2b Suli

6 p.m. Riffa

At Love at First Site stage on 24th Street, the stage will feature more than 40 “next generational” acts over the course of the weekend. Saturday’s events start at 10 a.m. and end at 7:30 p.m.

Here’s the day’s lineup:

10 a.m. Pull up and pitch hosted by Black Girl Ventures and Black Ambition

2 p.m. Something for the youth talent show

3 p.m. Teens with a Purpose, park poetry

3:30 p.m. Kuya Tribe DJ set

4:30 p.m. 757 Campfire jam featuring multiple musicians

The third community stage is the RnB Block Party on 31st Street. Live performances start at 4 p.m. and will go throughout the afternoon and evening until 9 p.m. DJs performing Saturday include Mad Skillz, DJ Lonnie B, Andrew Hypes, DJ Flood, and DJ Scandalez.

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Hungry?

The festival will have a food village, and the Virginia Beach Restaurant Association beyond the festival is hosting Something on the Menu, a dining event that runs this week through the end of the festival. Restaurants will offer an appetizer, beverage, brunch/lunch, dinner entrée and/or dessert — subject to change daily.

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Lost something?

Festival organizers have set up an online lost-and-found directory for missing items like phones, IDs or wallets. Festival-goers can register lost items and create an alert if a similar item is turned in. That link can be found here.

But the violence didn’t stop there.

Another fight escalated when several people pulled out guns and started shooting Saturday night in Suffolk, damaging homes and a vehicle and leaving two more people with minor injuries.

The weekend violence spanned Norfolk, Newport News, Chesapeake, Portsmouth and Suffolk. Police have not announced any suspect or arrest information in any of the shootings.

Four of the shootings occurred in Norfolk. Five people were shot, and two killed, on Granby Street in downtown Norfolk when gunfire erupted outside a bar around 2 a.m. The shooting happened when a fight broke out as patrons were leaving Chicho’s Pizza Backstage, according to bar manager Rory Schindel.

Sierra Jenkins, a 25-year-old reporter for The Virginian-Pilot, and 25-year-old Devon M. Harris, of Portsmouth, were killed. Three other men were injured.

The Norfolk Police Department was also investigating one other fatal Friday shooting and two nonfatal shootings that occurred in other parts of the city Saturday.

Police were called to the 2700 block of Myrtle Avenue, near Norfolk State University, around 11:30 p.m. Friday. Police found Leonco S. Lamb, 31, of Norfolk, suffering from a gunshot wound. He was taken to a hospital, where he later died.

Norfolk police spokesman Cpl. Will Pickering confirmed another man was shot in the leg at 9:35 a.m. Saturday in the 3400 block of Argonne Avenue, in the Fairmont Park neighborhood. His injuries were not considered life-threatening.

Another shooting was reported at 1 p.m. Saturday when a man walked into Sentara Leigh Hospital with a gunshot wound. Pickering said the shooting is believed to have occurred in the 3300 block of Kimball Terrace, which is in the Grady Village neighborhood.

In Chesapeake, a man was killed Saturday afternoon in a shooting at the Holly Point Shopping Center, located at 211 Providence Road. Chesapeake police responded to a report of gunfire on the side of the shopping center around 2:50 p.m. The man, who’s identity has not been released, died in transit to the hospital.

In Newport News, three men were injured in a shooting around 10 p.m. Friday in the 600 block of Ivy Avenue. All three were taken to the hospital for treatment.

Two shootings were reported in Portsmouth. Police responded to the first at 8:40 p.m. Friday in the 3300 block of Portsmouth Blvd. Officers found a man with a gunshot wound. He was taken to a hospital.

Portsmouth police said another shooting occurred at 4:46 p.m. Saturday in the 3900 block of Long Point Road. Officials said a man sustained a “serious gunshot wound” and was taken to the hospital.

Early Saturday, a man walked into Sentara Obici Hospital in Suffolk around 2 a.m. with a gunshot wound. The man told the Suffolk Police Department the shooting happened in 100 block of West Washington Street. Acting Deputy Chief Mark Erie said the man was “not very forthcoming” with information and police were unable to locate the crime scene.

Shortly after 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Suffolk police were called about several shots fired around the 900 block of Brook Avenue.

Witnesses told police that two groups of people were fighting when several people pulled out guns and started shooting, according to a news release.

Police found damage to several occupied homes and one vehicle. Two people — a man and a woman — were treated by Suffolk Fire and Rescue at the scene. The man was taken to a local hospital for treatment of a minor injury, according to the release.

Erie said their injuries may have been caused by debris or may have been a graze wound.

Police have not publicly identified any suspects.

No further details were available on any of the incidents Sunday morning.

Staff writer Jessica Nolte contributed to this report.

Andrea Noble, andrea.noble@virginiamedia.com