4 things to know from last night’s House primaries in Fairfax County
Fairfax County voters picked their party nominees Tuesday in a handful of congressional primaries, including in the supremely expensive 12-Democrat race in Virginia’s 10th District.
State Sen. Suhas Subramanyam (Loudoun), a former technology policy adviser in the Obama White House, was projected to win with more than 30 percent of the vote in that blue-leaning district, which folds in southwestern Fairfax with Loudoun County, Fauquier, Rappahannock, Manassas and a chunk of Prince William.
Subramanyam edged out Del. Dan Helmer (Fairfax), who had led the VA-10 field in fundraising with more than $1.5 million. Atif Qarni, the former Virginia secretary of education, was a distant third, followed by former Virginia House speaker Eileen Filler-Corn and State Sen. Jennifer Boysko (Fairfax).
Subramanyam will face Republican Mike Clancy, a tech company executive, in November in a race both parties will target as they seek control of the U.S. House. It’s also poised to be the only competitive congressional election in Fairfax.
Here are four first-brush takeaways from primary day.
1. Wexton’s endorsement showed her power.
Outgoing Rep. Jennifer Wexton’s (D) campaign told the Washington Post in May that Wexton had no plans to endorse a successor in the 10th District primary. A week later, she endorsed Subramanyam.
Wexton, who flipped the seat from Republican Barbara Comstock in 2018, showed her popularity when she held it in 2022 even as Republicans won control of the House. If she weren’t retiring for health reasons, she would have been a clear favorite for reelection.
Subramanyam’s campaign played up Wexton’s endorsement down the stretch, prominently featuring “ONLY CANDIDATE ENDORSED BY JENNIFER WEXTON” on its website.
The leading Democratic candidates all agreed on top-line issues around protecting abortion rights and the environment, preserving democracy and voting rights, preventing gun violence, and making health care more affordable and accessible. In that kind of race, Wexton’s endorsement separated Subramanyam from the pack.
2. Did a late-breaking controversy shift a tight race? Maybe.
Helmer, a Rhodes scholar and Army veteran, had name recognition from his 10th District run in 2018, a raving endorsement from the Post’s editorial board, and the money to fund TV ads and blanket VA-10 with yard signs.
He also had a rough final week.
In the run-up to primary day, a politics site and a few local outlets started reporting on sexual harassment allegations against Helmer; current and former leaders of the Loudoun Democratic Committee said they had developed sexual harassment policies in response to his behavior. Helmer called the allegations “baseless claims with no specific details” and said he was “proud of [his] record standing up against harassment.”
But some voters — including the suburban women at the core of Democrats’ base and November hopes — may have balked.
3. Education remains a flash point.
Clancy was projected to win Republicans’ VA-10 nomination handily after a campaign that (alongside inflation, crime and border security) emphasized parental rights in education, an animating culture-war issue in recent years on the right. Former Youngkin official Aliscia Andrews, who ran against Wexton in 2020, led with the same argument and finished second.
The Democratic favorites didn’t prioritize education in the same way. But Qarni, the former education secretary, did run on a comprehensive education plan that advocated universal pre-K, canceling student debt and increasing teacher pay. On Tuesday he beat out a number of more established Northern Virginia politicians, even though he raised less than $400,000.
That might signal the importance of education issues to voters this fall, as area schools still try to recover from pandemic learning and staffing losses. Then again, Qarni’s support for “an unconditional permanent, immediate ceasefire” in Gaza may have driven more of his votes.
4. No contests for Connolly and Beyer.
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D) brushed aside an 11th District primary challenge from Ahsan Nasar, positioning himself for a ninth term in his deep-blue seat in the heart of Fairfax County.
Nasar, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Reserves and an attorney specializing in cybersecurity, had targeted Connolly’s “lack of thoughtful positions” on Israel-Gaza and artificial intelligence. In mailers, Connolly accused Nasar of courting “MAGA” Republicans. Connolly was projected to win north of 80 percent of the vote.
Rep. Don Beyer (D), whose heavily Democratic 8th District includes Arlington County, the cities of Alexandria and Falls Church, and parts of Fairfax County, ran unopposed in his own primary, after facing a rare challenger last cycle.