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Virginia's 9th Congressional District election, 2024 (June 18 Democratic primary)

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Virginia's 9th Congressional District
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Democratic primary
Republican primary
General election
Election details
Filing deadline: April 4, 2024
Primary: June 18, 2024
General: November 5, 2024
How to vote
Poll times: 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Voting in Virginia
Race ratings
Cook Political Report: Solid Republican
DDHQ and The Hill: Safe Republican
Inside Elections: Solid Republican
Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe Republican
Ballotpedia analysis
U.S. Senate battlegrounds
U.S. House battlegrounds
Federal and state primary competitiveness
Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2024
See also
Virginia's 9th Congressional District
U.S. Senate • 1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th • 5th • 6th • 7th • 8th • 9th • 10th • 11th
Virginia elections, 2024
U.S. Congress elections, 2024
U.S. Senate elections, 2024
U.S. House elections, 2024

A Democratic Party primary took place on June 18, 2024, in Virginia's 9th Congressional District to determine which Democratic candidate would run in the district's general election on November 5, 2024.

Karen Baker advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Virginia District 9.

All 435 seats were up for election. At the time of the election, Republicans had a 220 to 212 majority with three vacancies.[1] As of June 2024, 45 members of the U.S. House had announced they were not running for re-election. To read more about the U.S. House elections taking place this year, click here.

In the 2022 election in this district, the Republican candidate won 73.2%-26.5%. Daily Kos calculated what the results of the 2020 presidential election in this district would have been following redistricting. Donald Trump (R) would have defeated Joe Biden (D) 70.3%-28.5%.[2]

Candidate filing deadline Primary election General election
April 4, 2024
June 18, 2024
November 5, 2024


A primary election is an election in which registered voters select a candidate that they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election. They are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders. Primaries are state-level and local-level elections that take place prior to a general election. Virginia utilizes an open primary process in which registered voters do not have to be members of a party to vote in that party's primary.[3][4]

For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.

This page focuses on Virginia's 9th Congressional District Democratic primary. For more in-depth information on the district's Republican primary and the general election, see the following pages:

Candidates and election results

Democratic primary election

The Democratic primary election was canceled. Karen Baker advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Virginia District 9.

Candidate profiles

This section includes candidate profiles that may be created in one of two ways: either the candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey, or Ballotpedia staff may compile a profile based on campaign websites, advertisements, and public statements after identifying the candidate as noteworthy. For more on how we select candidates to include, click here.

Karen Baker

Image of Karen Baker

WebsiteFacebookTwitterYouTube

Party: Democratic Party

Incumbent: No

Political Office: None

Submitted Biography:  "Born and raised in the heartland of America, Karen’s journey from a small Midwestern town to the forefront of legal and healthcare advocacy showcases her dedication to fighting for those in need. A proud alumna of William Smith College with a degree in comparative religion, followed by earning a J.D. from Catholic University Law School, Baker has tirelessly worked to uphold the principles of fairness and equality. As a trial lawyer for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, she was a formidable force against discrimination, ensuring that all individuals, regardless of sex, race, or age, received justice. Beyond her legal career, Baker served as an Administrative Law Judge for the Social Security Administration for 17 years, further solidifying her role as a champion for Americans' rights and needs. Her commitment to public service also extends into her personal life: Raising her son as a single mother and caring for her husband through a debilitating health battle, Karen’s experiences are deeply rooted in her understanding of the challenges facing families in the 9th District. Transitioning from law to healthcare, Karen further demonstrated her commitment to serving her community by becoming a registered nurse and working in the intensive care unit of a small rural hospital. Her diverse background in legal advocacy and frontline healthcare uniquely positions her to address the vast array of issues facing residents of Southwest Virginia."

Key Messages

To read this candidate's full survey responses, click here.

Early Childhood Education and Daycare: Spaces in accredited daycare centers are sorely lacking throughout the 9th District. Increasing the number of programs and the rate at which those resources are used by rural families is essential to the health and economic outcomes of SWVA families. “Not all public schools in Virginia offer pre-school. Head Start is a federally funded program that seeks to fill some of those gaps, but there is a critical need for more affordable childcare for families across the income spectrum and with multiple young children,” said Baker. A family of four with an infant and preschooler making $67,000 per year (225% Federal Poverty Level) will spend 30% of their annual income on childcare.

Healthcare: Too many rural people do not live close enough to hospitals and critical care units to ensure positive healthcare outcomes. Healthcare, like education, should not depend on your zip code. We need to expand the Federal PACE program which has been so successful in allowing seniors to age safely in place. Baker wants to scale programs like this up and tailor them to other rural areas. “It can be used as a model for an All-inclusive Family Care Center (AFCC) that will be unique to rural communities. Providing comprehensive healthcare from birth to death in rural areas where geography can be a barrier, will be a priority for me in Washington.”

Agriculture: Small family farms need access to markets and processing facilities usually closed to smaller farmers. “I will increase the number of USDA Inspectors and decentralize processing plants with regional abattoirs.” Baker says “opening markets up to smaller farmers is good for our farmers and ultimately for grocery prices. Bigger doesn’t always mean better, especially in rural areas. We aim to keep wages and profits in our local economy, not in shareholder dividends on Wall Street".

This information was current as of the candidate's run for U.S. House Virginia District 9 in 2024.

Voting information

See also: Voting in Virginia

Election information in Virginia: June 18, 2024, election.

What was the voter registration deadline?

  • In-person: June 18, 2024
  • By mail: Postmarked by May 28, 2024
  • Online: May 28, 2024

Was absentee/mail-in voting available to all voters?

N/A

What was the absentee/mail-in ballot request deadline?

  • In-person: June 7, 2024
  • By mail: Received by June 7, 2024
  • Online: June 7, 2024

What was the absentee/mail-in ballot return deadline?

  • In-person: June 18, 2024
  • By mail: Received by June 18, 2024

Was early voting available to all voters?

N/A

What were the early voting start and end dates?

May 3, 2024 to June 15, 2024

Were all voters required to present ID at the polls? If so, was a photo or non-photo ID required?

N/A

When were polls open on Election Day?

6:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. (EST)


Campaign finance

Name Party Receipts* Disbursements** Cash on hand Date
Karen Baker Democratic Party $223,833 $224,246 $-11,516 As of December 31, 2024

Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2024. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

* According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee."
** According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election.

District analysis

Click the tabs below to view information about voter composition, past elections, and demographics in both the district and the state.

  • District map - A map of the district in place for the election.
  • Competitiveness - Information about the competitiveness of 2024 U.S. House elections in the state.
  • Presidential elections - Information about presidential elections in the district and the state.
  • State party control - The partisan makeup of the state's congressional delegation and state government.


Below was the map in use at the time of the election. Click the map below to enlarge it.

2023_01_03_va_congressional_district_09.jpg
See also: Primary election competitiveness in state and federal government, 2024

This section contains data on U.S. House primary election competitiveness in Virginia.

Virginia U.S. House competitiveness, 2014-2024
Office Districts/
offices 		Seats Open seats Candidates Possible primaries Contested Democratic primaries Contested Republican primaries % of contested primaries Incumbents in contested primaries % of incumbents in contested primaries
2024 11 11 2 53 22 6 3 40.9% 2 22.2%
2022 11 11 0 33 16[5] 1 4 31.3% 2 18.2%
2020 11 11 0 31 15[6] 4 2 40.0% 2 18.2%
2018 11 11 2 37 17[7] 6 3 52.9% 2 22.2%
2016 11 11 2 29 20[8] 1 4 25.0% 2 22.2%
2014 11 11 2 32 20[9] 1 3 20.0% 2 22.2%

Post-filing deadline analysis

The following analysis covers all U.S. House districts up for election in Virginia in 2024. Information below was calculated on June 16, 2024, and may differ from information shown in the table above due to candidate replacements and withdrawals after that time.

Fifty-three candidates ran for Virginia’s 11 U.S. House districts, including 33 Democrats and 20 Republicans. That’s an average of 4.81 candidates per district.

This was also the most candidates who ran in primary elections in Virginia in the last 10 years.

The 7th and 10th Congressional Districts were open in 2024. The last time a seat was open in Virginia was in 2018 when two seats were open.

Incumbent Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-07) did not run for re-election because she will run for Governor of Virginia in 2025. Incumbent Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-10) retired from public office.

Sixteen candidates—12 Democrats and four Republicans—ran for the open 10th Congressional District, the most candidates who ran for a district in Virginia in 2024.

Nine primaries—six Democratic and three Republican—were contested in 2024. Between 2014 and 2022, an average of 5.8 primaries were contested each election year.

Two incumbents—Gerald Edward Connolly (D-11) and Bob Good (R-05)—were in contested primaries in 2024. Since 2014, there have been two incumbents in contested primaries in Virginia in every election year.

Candidates filed to run in the Republican and Democratic primaries in all 11 districts, meaning no seats are guaranteed to either party.

Partisan Voter Index

See also: The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index

Heading into the 2024 elections, based on results from the 2020 and 2016 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was R+23. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 23 percentage points more Republican than the national average. This made Virginia's 9th the 20th most Republican district nationally.[10]

2020 presidential election results

The table below shows what the vote in the 2020 presidential election would have been in this district. The presidential election data was compiled by Daily Kos.

2020 presidential results in Virginia's 9th based on 2024 district lines
Joe Biden Democratic Party Donald Trump Republican Party
28.5% 70.3%

Inside Elections Baselines

See also: Inside Elections

Inside Elections' Baseline is a figure that analyzes all federal and statewide election results from the district over the past four election cycles. The results are combined in an index estimating the strength of a typical Democratic or Republican candidate in the congressional district.[11] The table below displays the Baseline data for this district.

Inside Elections Baseline for 2024
Democratic Baseline Democratic Party Republican Baseline Republican Party Difference
28.9 70.2 D+41.3

Presidential voting history

See also: Presidential election in Virginia, 2020

Virginia presidential election results (1900-2020)

  • 17 Democratic wins
  • 14 Republican wins
Year 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020
Winning Party D D D D D D D R D D D D D R R R D R R R R R R R R R R D D D D
See also: Party control of Virginia state government

Congressional delegation

The table below displays the partisan composition of Virginia's congressional delegation as of May 2024.

Congressional Partisan Breakdown from Virginia
Party U.S. Senate U.S. House Total
Democratic 2 5 7
Republican 0 5 5
Independent 0 0 0
Vacancies 0 1 1
Total 2 11 13

State executive

The table below displays the officeholders in Virginia's top four state executive offices as of May 2024.

State executive officials in Virginia, May 2024
Office Officeholder
Governor Republican Party Glenn Youngkin
Lieutenant Governor Republican Party Winsome Earle-Sears
Secretary of State Republican Party Kelly Gee
Attorney General Republican Party Jason Miyares

State legislature

Virginia State Senate

Party As of February 2024
     Democratic Party 21
     Republican Party 19
     Other 0
     Vacancies 0
Total 40

Virginia House of Delegates

Party As of February 2024
     Democratic Party 51
     Republican Party 49
     Other 0
     Vacancies 0
Total 100

Trifecta control

The table below shows the state's trifecta status from 1992 until the 2024 election.

Virginia Party Control: 1992-2024
Four years of Democratic trifectas  •  Four years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

Year 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Governor D D R R R R R R R R D D D D D D D D R R R R D D D D D D D D R R R
Senate D D D D S S R R R R R R R R R R D D D D R R D R R R R R D D D D D
House D D D D D D S S R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R D D R R D

Ballot access

The table below details filing requirements for U.S. House candidates in Virginia in the 2024 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in Virginia, click here.

Filing requirements for U.S. House candidates, 2024
State Office Party Signatures required Filing fee Filing deadline Source
Virginia U.S. House Ballot-qualified party 1,000 $3,480.00 4/4/2024 Source
Virginia U.S. House Unaffiliated 1,000 N/A 6/18/2024 Source

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ A majority in the U.S. House when there are no vacancies is 218 seats.
  2. ↑ Daily Kos, "Daily Kos Elections' 2020 presidential results by congressional district, for new and old districts," accessed September 15, 2022
  3. ↑ NCSL,"State Primary Election Types," accessed October 7, 2024
  4. ↑ Virginia Department of Elections,"Casting a Ballot," accessed October 7, 2024
  5. ↑ Six district parties chose to hold nominating conventions or caucuses instead of primaries. Those are not included in the total for number of possible primaries.
  6. ↑ Seven district parties chose to hold nominating conventions or caucuses instead of primaries. Those are not included in the total for number of possible primaries.
  7. ↑ Five district parties chose to hold nominating conventions or caucuses instead of primaries. Those are not included in the total for number of possible primaries.
  8. ↑ Two district parties chose to hold nominating conventions or caucuses instead of primaries. Those are not included in the total number of possible primaries.
  9. ↑ Two district parties chose to hold nominating conventions or caucuses instead of primaries. Those are not included in the total number of possible primaries.
  10. ↑ Cook Political Report, "The 2022 Cook Partisan Voting Index (Cook PVI℠)," accessed January 10, 2024
  11. ↑ Inside Elections, "Methodology: Inside Elections’ Baseline by Congressional District," December 8, 2023


Virginia's current delegation to the United States Congress
Senators
Tim Kaine (D)
Mark Warner (D)
Representatives
District 1
District 2
District 3
District 4
District 5
District 6
District 7
District 8
District 9
District 10
District 11
Vacant
Democratic Party (7)
Republican Party (5)
Vacancies (1)


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