Much has been said about Black voter turnout in the South, with marches to polls in Georgia and GOP-led redistricting designed to water down majority Black districts. But Black Virginians may break voting records this year.
Hickory Hill Community Center in Richmond’s Southside hosted a get out the vote event focusing on Black voters this past Sunday. LaKeisha Cook with the nonpartisan Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy organized the event which features a blend of hip hop and gospel music and a fish fry.
“There is some real excitement and energy and momentum that we’re feeling," Cook told Radio IQ. "So, we’re expecting a good crowd today.”
That momentum is manifesting at the ballot box where early voter data suggests Black voters are turning out at higher levels than in the 2022 midterms and the 2025 governor’s race that saw Governor Abigail Spanberger win by 15 points.
Chaz Nuttycombe is with the election data group State Navigate. He said the more Black residents in a district, the larger the increase in turnout has been, especially in Virginia’s competitive congressional districts.
That could lead to the largest Black voter turnout in Virginia’s modern history.
The Blacker the precinct in Virginia, the higher the turnout compared to 2025. By next week, we are looking at the highest share of the Black vote in a Virginia election in modern history. pic.twitter.com/lhF0s9gIUi
— Chaz Nuttycombe (@ChazNuttycombe) October 27, 2026
“The biggest one that stuck out to me was a precinct in Franklin City," Nuttycombe told Radio IQ about the number of voters this year so far. "There’s twice the number of votes in that precinct and it's 80% Black.”
Virginia State University political science professor Wes Bellemy pointed to the constitutional amendment that would roll back Virginia’s ban on felon voting as one of the motivators for his community, but there's also the Commonwealth’s Black middle class, often linked to federal jobs targeted by President Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
“For people, specifically African Americans who are impacted the most across the Commonwealth of Virginia, you see a very, very strong push for people to make their voices heard," Bellemy told Radio IQ. "And the number one place in which their voice is going to be heard is at the polls.”
Back at Hickory Hill in Richmond’s Southside, Shirley Williams is a Black voter who's casting her ballot on a Sunday for the first time.
"Everything that’s on the book. Everything," Williams says when asked why she came out to vote. "The whole country concerns me. Everything.”
Election Day is November 3rd.
