Blazor in .NET 8 is not validating an editform when the form has been pre-populated but works on empty form

I am having a problem with validation of an edit form in Blazor.

My form looks like this:

<EditForm Model="@FormModel" OnValidSubmit="@HandleValidSubmit" OnInvalidSubmit="@HandleInValidSubmit"><DataAnnotationsValidator /><div><InputText class="form-control" id="firstName" type="text" placeholder="First Name" @bind-Value="@FormModel.FirstName" /><label for="firstName">First Name</label><ValidationMessage For="@(() => FormModel.FirstName)" /></div>            </EditForm>

If I submit the form from one that started out empty, the validation works fine.

In my .cs file I have:

FormModel = new FormUIModel();

The FormUIModel has a required parameter

[Required(ErrorMessage = "First Name Required")]public string? FirstName { get; set; }

This works fine.

But if I try and do it as an update, it does not validate. It goes directly to the OnValidSubmit.

The only difference is that after I new up the FormModel, I then populate it like this:

FormModel = new FormUIModel();FormModel = await _service.GetFormData(rowId)

Even if I delete the data in the firstname field, it will not show the "Required" message and never goes to the HandleInvalidSubmit method.

Help is appreciated