State Sen. John McGuire, shown here campaigning with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in Louisa County in May, won his first election in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District earlier this month. (Charlotte Rene Woods/Virginia Mercury)
Three weeks after being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, Virginia state Sen. John McGuire, R-Goochland, has yet to resign his seat in the Virginia Senate, an unusual delay that has raised questions about the transition of power and the scheduling of a special election to fill his vacancy.
McGuire, who defeated Democrat Gloria Witt in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District earlier this month after unseating U.S. Rep. Bob Good, R-Farmville, in one of the most expensive GOP primaries nationwide this year, is slated to be sworn into Congress in January.
However, his continued hold on his Senate seat, representing the 10th District, is drawing attention because most state lawmakers resign soon after winning federal office to allow for a smooth succession process. The State Board of Elections is set to certify the results of the Nov. 5 election on Dec. 2.
Under state law, a special election date must be set within 30 days of a vacancy or notification of it, whichever occurs first.
Virginia Senate President Pro Tempore Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, is expected to set a date for a special election to fill McGuire’s seat once his resignation is official.
“We’re still waiting for a formal resignation letter so we can go ahead and call for a special election,” JoNathan Collins, a spokesman for Lucas, told The Mercury Monday.
McGuire did not respond to several phone calls and text messages seeking comment. Senate Minority Leader Ryan McDougle, R-Hanover, said Monday that he expects a special election to be set for Jan. 7, the day before the General Assembly convenes for its 20205 session. He did not elaborate further.
David Richards, a political science professor at the University of Lynchburg, said that he doesn’t see a strategic reason for why McGuire would delay resigning his seat.
“I’m chalking this up to ‘paperwork delays’ or something like that,” Richards said. “I’m not going to pretend to know what McGuire is thinking, but this does seem to fall in line with the fairly loose way he ran his campaign, both in the primary and in the general election.”
McGuire, Richards said, often seemed to be using “a different playbook than the normal one, whether because he has his own ideas or simply is unfamiliar with what he needs to do, it wasn’t clear. My hope is that he gets up to speed once he gets to D.C. in 2025 and will figure out how to be an effective voice in Congress for the 5th District.”
The 10th Senate District, which spans 11 localities, stretching from Lynchburg in the west to the Richmond suburbs in the east, leans Republican. McGuire’s departure has set the stage for a hotly contested race, particularly among Republican hopefuls eager to retain the seat in the GOP column.
Last week, District Republicans announced the process for selecting their nominee in the upcoming special election. The local GOP committee scheduled a mass meeting for Dec. 12 at 5:30 p.m. to choose the party’s candidate. Unlike a firehouse primary, the mass meeting format allows registered Republicans in attendance to vote directly. The location for the meeting has yet to be finalized.
Among the first of the six Republicans to announce their bids for McGuire’s seat was former state senator Amanda Chase, who had served in the body for eight years and lost her 2023 GOP primary for her Chesterfield-based seat to Sen. Glen Sturtevant.
Because the law requires state legislators reside in the district they represent, Chase has moved from her former home in Chesterfield County to Appomattox County.
Shayne Snavely, Chase’s former aide who worked on her bid for the Republican nomination for governor three years ago, has also declared his intention to run.
And so have Jean Gannon, a Powhatan County real estate appraiser and longtime Republican activist, and Duane Adams, the chairman of the Louisa County Board of Supervisors, who ran for the Republican nomination in the district in 2023 but lost to McGuire.
In more recent weeks, Luther Cifers, a businessman from Prince Edward County, and Bryan Hamlet, the chairman of the Cumberland County Board of Supervisors, have also launched their campaigns in District 10.
The lone Democrat who has filed to run in the Republican-leaning district is Jack Trammel, a college professor from Louisa County who in 2014 unsuccessfully ran against Republican Dave Brat in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District.
YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.