While Dance benefits from name recognition and a widespread base of loyal backers, like any candidate in a Virginia primary she faces the challenge of getting her supporters to the polls, said Stephen J. Farnsworth, a political science professor at the University of Mary Washington.
“In June, people are thinking about everything but politics, and very few people are thinking about Democratic nomination contests for the Virginia Senate,” Farnsworth said.
The absence of flamboyant former Del. Joseph D. Morrissey from the Democratic primary has made the renomination contest even less interesting in the public eye, Farnsworth said.
