Today is election day, and before you head out to the polls you may want to make sure you understand just what you’re voting for this morning. In this years midterm elections in Virginia, voters are deciding the races for the United States Senate as well as those for the 11 Congressional districts in the state.

The Richmond Times Dispatch has a guide to election day posted on their website today (which can be seen here), but here is a quick rundown of the ‘who’s-who’ on the ballot for Virginians today.

Candidates for United States Senate

Mark Warner (D) – Incumbent

Mark Warner is the current senior Senator for Virginia in the Senate, where he took office on January 3rd, 2009. He is a member of the Democratic Party and was the 69th Governor of Virginia, a position he held from 2002 until 2006.

                On the Issues:

  • The Affordable Care Act: overall supports the Act, has proposed changes like “introducing a copper plan that would allow for a cheaper option”
  • Abortion: pro-choice
  • Taxes: believes in taking ‘balanced’ approach to country’s debt
  • Gun Rights: for strengthening of background checks
  • Immigration: for reform to strengthen border security as well as create a path to citizenship for undocumented law-abiding immigrants already in the country

Ed Gillespie (R) – Challenger

Ed Gillespie is the challenging candidate for the Senate race. He is a member of the Republican Party and served as the 61st Chairman of the Republican National Committee as well as Counselor to the President during the George W. Bush administration. He founded Quinn Gillespie & Associates, a bipartisan lobbying firm with Democrat Jack Quinn.

On the Issues:

  • The Affordable Care Act: does not support the Act and would vote to repeal, says it “reduces job growth, patient choice, and quality of care”
  • Abortion: pro-life
  • Taxes: wants tax cuts
  • Gun Rights: opposes regulation, infringement of gun rights
  • Immigration: believes in enforcing existing laws

Robert Sarvis (L) – Independent

Robert Sarvis is an Independent candidate for the Senate race. Sarvis is a member of the Libertarian Party and is a businessman and attorney. He ran for the Senate in 2011 as a Republican, after which he switched to the Libertarian Party and ran for Governor in 2013.

image from wvtf.org

On the Issues:

  • The Affordable Care Act: says it does not work, believes that the solution is “intelligent deregulation coordinated at the state and federal levels”
  • Abortion: believes Congress doesn’t have the power to regulate abortion
  • Taxes: believes they should be simple and few, that increases in government spending should be felt by all
  • Gun Rights: opposes regulation
  • Immigration: supports expanding legal, modernized immigration

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you’re voting in Virginia’s 7th District today, you’re experience will be a little unusual. Since House Majority Leader Eric Cantor was defeated by Dave Brat in the Republican primary earlier this year, you will be selecting your candidate twice: once for Cantor’s unfinished term ending in January, and once for the following term.

For more information check out these great sources:

http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/virginia/ap/a-guide-to-election-day-in-virginia/article_8e82e0c1-0236-529f-9f69-c7548e787b55.html

http://www.wjla.com/articles/2014/10/warner-gillespie-draw-differences-over-issues-in-va-senate-race-108476.html

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