Lee County voters backed Republicans for Congress by wide margins on Tuesday, November 3, while Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner won another term statewide, unofficial results show. In Pennington Gap, Councilman Terry K. Pope ran unopposed for mayor, and four sitting council members led the race for five council seats.
These results are unofficial. They come from the Virginia Department of Elections’ results page for Lee County, which on November 4 showed all 16 precincts with election night counts complete. Provisional ballots and mailed ballots postmarked by Election Day that arrive by noon Friday, November 6, had not yet been added, and the county’s Electoral Board still has to certify the count.
Congress
| Race | Lee County | Statewide or district |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. Senate | Bert Mizusawa (R) 4,688, 75.2% Mark R. Warner (D) 1,535, 24.6% | Warner 2,169,445, 61.1% Mizusawa 1,373,808, 38.7% |
| U.S. House, 9th District | H. Morgan Griffith (R) 5,053, 80.7% Joy A. Powers (D) 1,197, 19.1% | Griffith 193,785, 66.0% Powers 99,444, 33.8% |
Lee County was among the most Republican places in Virginia in the Senate race. Warner won 24.6% of the vote here. Only Tazewell and Scott counties gave him less, out of Virginia’s 133 counties and cities, by The Lee Daily Register’s count from the state’s statewide results.
Pennington Gap
Pope received 294 votes for mayor, and there were 12 write-ins. He was the only name on the ballot. The town’s website lists Gary McElyea as mayor and Pope as one of five council members, and McElyea was not a candidate this year.
Eight candidates ran for five council seats. Travis C. Mullins led with 211 votes, followed by Paul Doug Alsup with 202, Jimmy L. Warner with 188, E. Ty Harber Jr. with 177 and Darrell W. Hayes with 155. Megan L.L. Kennedy had 102, Loretta L. See 92 and Orville D. Overton 62. Mullins, Alsup, Warner and Hayes are all current council members, according to the town’s website, so if the order holds the council will keep four incumbents and add Harber. Hayes finished 53 votes ahead of Kennedy for the last seat.
Jonesville
Mayor Jerry L. Harris, who was unopposed, received 198 votes. There were 27 write-in votes for mayor.
The ballot told voters to choose up to seven council members, but only five names were on it: Rebecca Riggs Hines with 143 votes, B. Kenny Hounshell and Summer M. Wynn with 142 each, Michael J. Litton with 135 and Danielle R. Stapleton with 130. All five are listed as current council members on the town’s website, which also lists a sixth member, Brenda King, who was not on the ballot.
Voters cast 70 write-in votes for council. The state’s results page does not show the names written in, so who fills the remaining seats will not be known until the local count is final.
How many voted
The county counted 6,700 ballots from 16,035 registered voters, a turnout of 42%, according to the state’s results page. That is above the 36.9% of the last midterm, in 2022, and below the 45.8% of 2018, when a U.S. Senate race last topped a midterm ballot here, according to The Lee Daily Register’s turnout history for the county.
In the Senate race, 1,530 votes came from early in-person voting, 4,421 from Election Day and 282 from mailed absentee ballots, by our tally of the state’s breakdown. Not every voter marked every race. The Senate contest drew 6,233 votes, while the marriage amendment drew 6,570, which means at least 337 ballots marked the marriage question but left the Senate race blank.
The Jonesville precinct cast the most Election Day ballots, 555, followed by Pennington with 505 and Rose Hill with 473. Lee County voters also voted no on all three proposed amendments to the Virginia Constitution, which passed statewide. The Lee Daily Register’s guide before the election lists the full ballot.
