Polls are open today in Virginia’s 1st district, but turnout is expected to be low in the special election to replace late Rep. Jo Ann Davis (R), who died in October after a two-year battle with breast cancer.

Iraq War veteran Philip Forgit (D) faces an uphill battle against state Del. Rob Wittman (R) in this solidly Republican district. But the short, monthlong campaign and the inherent uncertainty of any special election has given state Democrats hope, despite the fact that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has decided to stay mostly away from this election.

The National Republican Congressional Committee, by contrast, has poured more than $80,000 in independent expenditures into the race since the district Republican nominating convention in early November in order to keep the seat in GOP hands.

Forgit and his supporters will be canvassing in the Williamsburg and Newport News areas of this sprawling district, which runs all the way to the exurbs of Washington, D.C. The campaign is holding its election night party in Williamsburg tonight.

Wittman is scheduled to be making get-out-the-vote phone calls in Yorktown and Stafford today and is holding his election party in Tappahannock.

Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.

— John McArdle