This year’s filing deadline for candidates running for the U.S. House of Representatives in Virginia was April 2, 2026.

This year has the second-highest number of candidates since 2014. Forty-four candidates — 28 Democrats and 16 Republicans — are running for Virginia’s 11 congressional districts. That’s four candidates per district. There were 4.8 candidates per district in 2024, three in 2022, 2.8 in 2020, 3.4 in 2018, 2.6 in 2016, and 2.9 in 2014.

Among the candidates are all 11 incumbents, meaning no districts are open this year. There were two open districts in 2024, none in 2022, none in 2020, two in 2018, two in 2016, and two in 2014.

Two of those incumbents — Reps. John McGuire (R-5th) and Don Beyer (D-8th) — are running in contested primaries. Since 2014, two incumbents have run in contested primaries each year.

In total, eight primaries — five Democratic and three Republican — are contested this year. In total, there were nine contested primaries in 2024, five in 2022, six in 2020, nine in 2018, five in 2016, and four in 2014.

The 1st Congressional District has attracted the most candidates. Eight candidates are running for the district, including incumbent Rep. Rob Wittman (R) and seven Democrats.

The 4th Congressional District is guaranteed to Democrats because no Republicans will appear on the ballot. Democrats filed to run in all 11 districts, meaning none are guaranteed to Republicans.

Virginia and four other states — Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, and Washington— are holding U.S. House primaries on Aug. 4, 2026.

In Virginia, primary elections are determined via plurality vote, meaning that the candidate with the highest number of votes wins even if they did not win an outright majority of votes cast.