HARRISONBURG, Va. (ROCKTOWN NOW) – A reminder that early voting begins this Friday for the June 18 primary election.

Folks can vote early, in person at the registrar’s office or they can mail-in an absentee ballot. Harrisonburg will have a U.S. Senate Republican primary and a local City Council Democratic primary.

Candidates for the Republican primary include retired U.S. Navy Captain Hung Cao; Army veteran Eddie Garcia; constitutional lawyer Jonathan Emord; attorney Chuck Smith and former congressional staffer Scott Thomas Parkinson. All candidates are running for the seat currently held by U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, who is also running for re-election.

The Harrisonburg City Council Democratic primary candidates will include incumbent council members Chris Jones, Vice Mayor Laura Dent and Mayor Deanna Reed. They will be challenged by Kathy Beery, who ran for Virginia state senate in 2023; and newcomer Nasser Alsaadun, who teaches at Bridgewater College.

Mark Finks, Director of Elections for the city of Harrisonburg, explains that voters can only participate in one of the two primaries.

“There will be a different ballot depending on which parties primary you choose to vote in,” Finks said. “And so the voters will just need to be reminded that they will have to choose to vote in one of the primaries and that they can only vote in one for this election.”

Early voting ends on June 15. Folks must be registered to vote on May 28 and an absentee ballot must be requested by June 7.