Fairfax County Supervisor James Walkinshaw, a Democrat, defeated former FBI Special Agent and Government Accountability advocate Stewart Whitson in the race to fill Virginia’s 11th Congressional District which was vacated by Rep. Gerry Connolly’s death in May of this year.
Walkinshaw was Connolly’s hand-picked successor and won the district with roughly 75% of the vote. Walkinshaw raised more than $1 million in the race compared to Whitson’s $224,000.
Connolly’s campaign transferred another $1.8 million to a PAC supporting Walkinshaw and Connolly penned an endorsement days before his death from esophageal cancer. Walkinshaw previously served as Connolly’s Chief of Staff.
While the seat has been a safe Democrat seat, the election results do tighten the Republican majority significantly. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson can now only afford to lose two of his caucus on key votes.
Virginia’s 11th Congressional District has been a safe seat for Democrats since 2010 with Connolly winning by high margins for the past 15 years, but Republicans had hoped to pull off an upset in the open seat.
Abigail Spanberger, who served in Congress alongside Connolly congratulated Walkinshaw’s victory. (RELATED: House Democrats Add $1 Million to Help House Candidates in Battleground Campaigns)
“I know that @JamesWalkinshaw will honor Gerry Connolly’s legacy and deliver real results for working families in Virginia’s 11th District — and we are so fortunate to now have him in Congress,” she posted on X.
Democrats celebrated that Walkinshaw outperformed Kamala Harris’s 2024 Presidential campaign by 8 points giving them optimism for the Governor’s race in November.
It is worth noting that while Democrat percentage were up significantly, total vote numbers for the race plummeted. More than 400,000 votes were cast in the district in 2024 while less than 150,000 were cast in the special election.
While Democrats cheered the percentages, Republicans pointed to the stunning low turnout. (RELATED: Poll Shock: 73% of Virginians Say No to Boys in Girls’ Sports)
“The turnout was incredibly low for what that district typically turns out,” said Terry Schilling, president of the American Principles Project. “Voters should not be fooled by the election results in Virginia’s special congressional election.”
Robert Bluey of The Daily Signal pointed out that only 26% of voters in Fairfax County voted.
“We’ve been told for months that Democrats are far more motivated than Republicans,’” he said. “So where were they on Tuesday?”
Only 145,000 total votes were cast in the special election. Last year roughly 135,000 Republicans voted in the general election.