diff --git a/.changelog/11776.txt b/.changelog/11776.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..9a03744953f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changelog/11776.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+```release-note:bug
+csi: Fixed a bug where volume claim releases that were not fully processed before a leadership transition would be ignored
+```
diff --git a/nomad/volumewatcher/volume_watcher.go b/nomad/volumewatcher/volume_watcher.go
index 80304c57440..28fc94f3536 100644
--- a/nomad/volumewatcher/volume_watcher.go
+++ b/nomad/volumewatcher/volume_watcher.go
@@ -104,6 +104,13 @@ func (vw *volumeWatcher) isRunning() bool {
 // Each pass steps the volume's claims through the various states of reaping
 // until the volume has no more claims eligible to be reaped.
 func (vw *volumeWatcher) watch() {
+	// always denormalize the volume and call reap when we first start
+	// the watcher so that we ensure we don't drop events that
+	// happened during leadership transitions and didn't get completed
+	// by the prior leader
+	vol := vw.getVolume(vw.v)
+	vw.volumeReap(vol)
+
 	for {
 		select {
 		// TODO(tgross): currently server->client RPC have no cancellation
diff --git a/nomad/volumewatcher/volumes_watcher_test.go b/nomad/volumewatcher/volumes_watcher_test.go
index 33267ffeff8..185a7225e68 100644
--- a/nomad/volumewatcher/volumes_watcher_test.go
+++ b/nomad/volumewatcher/volumes_watcher_test.go
@@ -52,9 +52,9 @@ func TestVolumeWatch_EnableDisable(t *testing.T) {
 	require.Equal(0, len(watcher.watchers))
 }
 
-// TestVolumeWatch_Checkpoint tests the checkpointing of progress across
-// leader leader step-up/step-down
-func TestVolumeWatch_Checkpoint(t *testing.T) {
+// TestVolumeWatch_LeadershipTransition tests the correct behavior of
+// claim reaping across leader step-up/step-down
+func TestVolumeWatch_LeadershipTransition(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Parallel()
 	require := require.New(t)
 
@@ -84,18 +84,51 @@ func TestVolumeWatch_Checkpoint(t *testing.T) {
 		return 1 == len(watcher.watchers)
 	}, time.Second, 10*time.Millisecond)
 
-	// step-down (this is sync, but step-up is async)
+	vol, _ = srv.State().CSIVolumeByID(nil, vol.Namespace, vol.ID)
+	require.Len(vol.PastClaims, 0, "expected to have 0 PastClaims")
+	require.Equal(srv.countCSIUnpublish, 0, "expected no CSI.Unpublish RPC calls")
+
+	// trying to test a dropped watch is racy, so to reliably simulate
+	// this condition, step-down the watcher first and then perform
+	// the writes to the volume before starting the new watcher. no
+	// watches for that change will fire on the new watcher
+
+	// step-down (this is sync)
 	watcher.SetEnabled(false, nil)
 	require.Equal(0, len(watcher.watchers))
 
-	// step-up again
+	// allocation is now invalid
+	index++
+	err = srv.State().DeleteEval(index, []string{}, []string{alloc.ID})
+	require.NoError(err)
+
+	// emit a GC so that we have a volume change that's dropped
+	claim := &structs.CSIVolumeClaim{
+		AllocationID: alloc.ID,
+		NodeID:       node.ID,
+		Mode:         structs.CSIVolumeClaimGC,
+		State:        structs.CSIVolumeClaimStateUnpublishing,
+	}
+	index++
+	err = srv.State().CSIVolumeClaim(index, vol.Namespace, vol.ID, claim)
+	require.NoError(err)
+
+	// create a new watcher and enable it to simulate the leadership
+	// transition
+	watcher = NewVolumesWatcher(testlog.HCLogger(t), srv, "")
 	watcher.SetEnabled(true, srv.State())
+
 	require.Eventually(func() bool {
 		watcher.wlock.RLock()
 		defer watcher.wlock.RUnlock()
+
 		return 1 == len(watcher.watchers) &&
 			!watcher.watchers[vol.ID+vol.Namespace].isRunning()
 	}, time.Second, 10*time.Millisecond)
+
+	vol, _ = srv.State().CSIVolumeByID(nil, vol.Namespace, vol.ID)
+	require.Len(vol.PastClaims, 1, "expected to have 1 PastClaim")
+	require.Equal(srv.countCSIUnpublish, 1, "expected CSI.Unpublish RPC to be called")
 }
 
 // TestVolumeWatch_StartStop tests the start and stop of the watcher when