U.S. Rep.-elect John McGuire, R-Goochland, formally resigned his state Senate seat on Wednesday, clearing the way for a special election in Virginia’s Senate District 10. (Charlotte Rene Woods/Virginia Mercury)
Republicans in Virginia’s 10th state Senate District will convene for a mass meeting on Friday to select their nominee in an upcoming special election. The vacancy was prompted by the resignation of Sen. John McGuire, R-Goochland, who is set to leave his post after being elected to Congress.
The meeting will take place at the Goochland Rec Center, with registration running from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., and proceedings beginning at 6:30 p.m. A total of seven candidates are vying to succeed McGuire.
Organized by local party committees, mass meetings require party members to gather at a designated time and place to publicly select a candidate.
Unlike secret ballots, voting is often conducted through a show of hands, voice vote, or other public method. Participants must remain present for multiple rounds of voting until one candidate secures a majority — typically more than 50% of the votes — to be declared the winner. This process can be lengthy, especially in races with a crowded field of candidates.
Once the GOP nominee is selected, they will face Democrat Jack Trammel in a special election that has yet to be set by Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, the Senate president pro tempore. The winner will serve out the remainder of McGuire’s term in the Senate, which ends in 2027.
Among the first Republicans to declare their candidacy for McGuire’s seat was Amanda Chase, a former state senator from Chesterfield County who served in the Virginia Senate for eight years.
Chase previously ran for re-election in 2023 but lost the GOP primary for her Chesterfield-based seat to Sen. Glen Sturtevant. To qualify for the 10th District race, Chase moved to Appomattox County, as Virginia law requires state legislators to live in the district they represent.
Joining the race is Shayne Snavely, an Amelia-based entrepreneur, veteran who was a former aide to Chase and worked on her failed 2021 gubernatorial campaign. Jean Gannon, a Powhatan County real estate appraiser and long-time Republican activist, has also thrown her hat into the ring.
Duane Adams, the chairman of the Louisa County Board of Supervisors, is making a bid for the seat as well. Adams previously ran for the Republican nomination in the district in 2023 but was defeated by McGuire.
Other contenders include Alex Cheatham, a recent college graduate aiming to make his political debut, and two late entrants: Luther Cifers, a businessman from Prince Edward County, and Bryan Hamlet, chairman of the Cumberland County Board of Supervisors.
“We have a pretty good selection among the group there. I don’t know everybody, but I think that they will all be competitive candidates in that district,” Rich Anderson, chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia, said in a phone interview. “Obviously as a conservative Republican leading the conservative party, I want to get a conservative Republican nominated.”
Anderson said that the mass meeting could last late into the evening.
“The process will probably require multiple ballots with that many people on the docket, so we’ll just see how it all turns out. I can’t predict who will walk away with all the marbles, but one of them will.”
David Richards, a political science professor at the University of Lynchburg, said that of the Republicans who have thrown their names in the ring for the special election to replace McGuire, “Chase is perhaps the best known or most notorious.”
But Richards doubts that Chase will get her party’s nod.
“The mass meeting nomination process caters to party members, and Chase has little credibility with the local party after being expelled by the Chesterfield GOP and being noticeably absent from the one candidates forum already held. And she has little credibility with local Republicans, which will hurt her chances.”
Among the remaining six candidates, Adams has been very active beginning with his unsuccessful bid for the nomination in 2023, which McGuire won, Richards said.
“The key to these mass meetings is name recognition in a positive way. Aside from the candidate forum held in late November, there has not been much opportunity or time for candidates to get their message out. Their pre-existing connections will tip the scale, which is why I expect Adams to win the nomination.”
Adams will still “get a run for his money” from Snavely, who also has a lot of party experience working for Chase earlier in his career, Richards added. “The other candidates have very low profiles, but Jean Gannon has been active in local GOP politics, which might help her.”
McGuire, who in June defeated incumbent U.S. Rep. Bob Good, R-Farmville, in one of the most viciously fought and expensive GOP primary battles nationwide this year, had kept Republicans on edge for weeks after winning his election against Democrat Gloria Witt on Nov. 5.
Typically, elected officials who win a new position resign from their current office within days to allow for a special election to be called promptly, ensuring the seat isn’t left vacant when the next legislative session begins in early January. However, McGuire delayed his departure, formally stepping down on Wednesday.
In his official resignation letter, McGuire called his brief stint in the state Senate “the privilege of a lifetime” and said he hoped voters would choose “a strong candidate who loves We The People,” works well with others and who has “never wavered on our core Republican values.”
However, McGuire stopped short from publicly backing one of the seven candidates vying to succeed him.
“I was not too surprised that McGuire has not endorsed anyone, especially Adams,” said Richards. “When McGuire announced he was primarying Bob Good, Adams was very vocal about McGuire’s decision, calling him a liar, so there does not seem to be much love lost there.”
The 10th Senate District, which spans 11 localities from Lynchburg in the west to the suburbs of Richmond in the east, leans heavily Republican. The district backed President-elect Donald Trump with 62.8% of the vote last month and gave Republican Glenn Youngkin an even stronger 67.8% support during his successful 2021 gubernatorial campaign.
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