Black influence in Virginia politics appears to be growing.

Results from Tuesday’s primaries show three new Black can- didates in Portsmouth, Prince William County and the Northern Neck won Democratic nomination fights for seats in the House of Delegates, while virtually all incumbent Black delegates were able to declare victory over challengers.

Even better, Prince William County Delegate Hala S. Ayala, 47, an Afro-Latina and one of 19 current House members in the 23-member Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, overcame five rivals to become the first woman to win the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor.

“Overall, it was a good night,” said Henrico Delegate Lamont Bagby, chair of the VLBC that is a key element of the 55-member Democratic majority in the 100-member House.

Heading into November, the VLBC has the prospect off growing to 23 members in the House of Delegates alone and having a former member in a statewide office if the Black candidates have the same success in the Nov. 2 general election as they did on primary day.

Delegate Bagby said celebrations must be short-lived. He said this is the time to gear up to face the coming Republican onslaught of money and manpower as the opposition party seeks to retake control of the lower house of the General Assembly and win a statewide office for the first time since 2009.

In Richmond-area Democratic primary contests for House seats, Delegate Bagby won in a landslide over challenger John Dantzler II, securing 91 percent of the 7,500 votes cast in the 74th House District that includes a small piece of Richmond’s North Side.

As expected, Richmond Delegate Jeffrey M. Bourne also claimed victory as he outdistanced his activist challenger, Richard Walker. The incumbent garnered 70 percent of the 7,400 votes cast in the 71st House District that includes most of the city’s North Side.

Separately, incumbent Richmond Delegate Dawn M. Adams fended off her Black challenger, Kyle Elliott, in the 68th House District in the West End, winning 61 percent of the 7,900 votes cast. In the Republican primary to select a challenger for Delegate Adams in the general election, Mark Earley Jr., son of a former state attorney general, won 91.5 percent of the vote to overcome rival Mike Dickinson.

Contested House races will be the order of the day in November, with 95 members of the House set to face major party challengers and two others set to face independent candidates. Only three seats will be uncontested, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.

While area incumbents won, five incumbent House members across the state—four Democrats and a Republican—were ousted in nomination contests.

In Portsmouth, Nadarius Clark, 26, was among the three Black candidates winning contests, beating incumbent Delegate Stephen E. Heretick in the 79th House District.

Michelle Maldonado matched Mr. Clark’s feat in winning the Democratic nomination in the 50th House District in Prince William County. She ousted incumbent Delegate Lee Carter, a self-proclaimed socialist who also lost his separate bid for the party’s nomination for governor.

Another Black newcomer who scored big was Dr. Linwood Blizzard III, a minister, teacher and engineer in the Northern Neck. He overcame two rivals to win the party’s nomination in the 99th House District.

Meanwhile, a fourth Black candidate, Briana Sewell, was unchallenged in her bid to win the nomination for the 51st House District seat that Delegate Ayala gave up to make her winning bid for the lieutenant governor’s post.

Delegate Bagby said all four of these new Black candidates will face tough Republican challenges, and he said the VLBC would be doing everything to assist, including raising money, to help them gain victory.

Separately, incumbent Black Delegate Candi M. King again overcame challenger Pamela Montgomery to secure the nomination in the 2nd House District in Prince William County, even though Ms. Montgomery raised six times the money. Delegate King and Ms. Montgomery first battled for the seat in a special election in January to replace former Delegate and VLBC member Jennifer Carroll Foy, who resigned to run for governor in the primary. She came in a distant second in the gubernatorial primary.

Other VLBC members who overcame primary challengers include Roanoke Delegate Sam Rasoul, who also ran unsuc- cessfully for lieutenant governor in the primary, and Norfolk Delegate Jerrauld C. “Jay” Jones, who fell short in his primary run for attorney general.

Northern Virginia Delegate Ibraheem S. Samirah, who emphasized his Arab and Jordanian heritage and did not join the VLBC, was defeated in the primary. Known for his confrontational style with fellow Democrats, he fell to challenger Irene Shin, who promised to be more collegial in representing the 86th House District.

In other primary upsets, Alexandria Vice Mayor Elizabeth Bennett-Parker ousted incumbent Democratic Delegate Mark Levine, who also had run unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor. A gun control advocate, Ms. Bennett-Parker finished with nearly 60 percent of the vote in the 45th House District.

Separately, in a Republican primary in the 9th House District in Franklin County, Wren Williams, a member of former President Trump’s legal team and a promoter of the false claims that the 2021 election was stolen, defeated incumbent Delegate Charles Poindexter. Mr. Williams pilloried Delegate Poindexter for failing to back Mr. Trump’s bogus assertion he had defeated President Joe Biden.

Meanwhile, Tim Anderson, an attorney and gun store owner, won the GOP nomination in the 83rd House District in Virginia Beach to face incumbent Democratic Delegate Nancy Guy. Mr. Anderson defeated former GOP Delegate Chris Stolle, who was seeking a rematch with Delegate Guy, who defeated him in 2019.