Democratic voters chose former U.S. Congresswoman Leslie Byrne, of Falls Church, as their party's nominee for lieutenant governor in Tuesday's primary election.
Byrne brought in 33 percent of the vote across the state in the four-way race, and 55 percent in Fairfax County, according to early returns.
"We ran a strong campaign everywhere across Virginia," she said. "We're going to continue to build on that and go forward until November."
Byrne — who has served as a state senator, a member of congress and a representative in the House of Delegates — defeated a crowded field of Democratic hopefuls for the state's second-highest office, including Del. Chap Petersen, of Fairfax; Del. Viola Baskerville, of Richmond; and Sen. Phillip Puckett, of Southwest Virginia.
Byrne will now focus on the Nov. 8 general election for lieutenant governor, in which she will face Bill Bolling, a state senator from Hanover County.
Along with Byrne on the Democratic ticket will be guberantorial candiate, Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine, and attorney general candidate, Sen. Creigh Deeds.
"I think we're building a dynamic ticket for Virginia — with Tim, myself and Creigh — what I'm calling 'TLC for Virginia'," she said. "We're going to move Virginia forward."
Petersen, who has represented Fairfax City in the House of Delegates since 2001, brought in only 22 percent of the state-wide vote. Petersen gave up his delegate seat to run for lieutenant governor, and the contest for his former delegate seat was the only one in the state contested in the primary for both the Republican and Democratic candidates.