RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Thousands of Virginia voters have already cast their ballots for governor, driven by a wide range of issues.
At Jahnke Road Baptist Church in suburban Richmond, 39-year-old Angelica Bega said Tuesday morning she wasn’t sure whom she would vote for until she was handed a ballot, but she ultimately voted for Democrat Ralph Northam.
As an “issues-driven voter,” she says she said it was “very frustrating” to see so many attack ads. She said Republican Ed Gillespie’s attempt to make immigration such a big part of the campaign frustrated her and was a factor in her decision to vote for his opponent.
Emogene and Jimmy Babb, both 74, voted straight Republican at a rural polling station in Windsor, Virginia.
They said there wasn’t any one particular issue that drove them to the polls. But they said they shared Gillespie’s positions on gun rights and not removing Confederate statues.
“We don’t need a governor who is going to take our guns away,” Jimmy Babb said.