Retired Army Col. Eugene Vindman attracted nationwide attention for his whistleblowing role in Donald Trump’s first impeachment. Now the former National Security Council lawyer is trying for a seat in Congress.
He’s one of seven Democrats vying for the nomination Tuesday in the 7th District, where Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D) is giving up to run for governor in 2025 and partisan margins are narrow: Joe Biden won by 7 percentage points in 2020 and Spanberger was re-elected by 5 points in 2022.
“That is a district that the Democrats absolutely have to win if they want to have any shot at taking the House,” said Alex Keena, a political scientist at Virginia Commonwealth University. “It’s probably the most competitive race in Virginia and one of the most competitive races in the entire country.”
Virginia’s primaries also include a race that’s exposed and exacerbated fissures within the fractious House Republican majority more than any other: Rep. Bob Good, who voted to oust Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as speaker and leads the Freedom Caucus bloc of hard-line Republicans who resist bipartisan compromises, is in danger of losing his seat after antagonizing Trump and some members of his conference.
It’s also primary day in Oklahoma, where Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole (R) faces a test from a big-funding businessman new to the state. And a Georgia Republican runoff favors a former Trump and McCarthy political aide.
Virginia
Vindman, a first-time candidate, raised $5 million through May 29, or more than three times the combined receipts of his six primary opponents.
Four of them are current or former officeholders who are all women of color — Prince William County Supervisors Andrea Bailey and Margaret Franklin, state Rep. Briana Sewell, and former state Rep. Elizabeth Guzman.
The open seat also attracted six Republican hopefuls. Derrick Anderson, a former Army Green Beret and the 2022 Republican primary runner-up, and Cameron Hamilton, a former Navy SEAL, are the leading candidates.
Anderson is backed by House Republican leaders and the Congressional Leadership Fund. Hamilton’s donors include Rep. Matt Gaetz, the Florida firebrand who led the effort to oust McCarthy.
The district is home to Marine Corps Base Quantico and has a military-heavy electorate.
Further south in the 5th District is the most consequential primary out of more than half a dozen where Republican members are openly campaigning to unseat colleagues.
At least 10 Republican members of Congress plus McCarthy have donated to the campaign of state Sen. John McGuire, who’s trying to topple Good in the GOP primary. Trump appeared in TV ads to boost McGuire over Good, who ran afoul of the ex-president after initially supporting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for the White House.
Trump’s endorsement “represents a huge advantage for McGuire, and that’s why Good has tried to suggest that he is actually the favorite of the former president,” said Stephen Farnsworth, a political scientist at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg. “While prominent Republicans have split in their preferences in this contest, none of them has anything like the influence with Republican primary voters that the former president has.”
Good’s backers include Club for Growth Action, a limited-government advocacy group that funded a super PAC called Conservative Outsider PAC.
Closer to Washington, the winner of a 12-candidate Democratic primary will have a clear edge to succeed Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D), who’s retiring for health-related reasons.
State Rep. Dan Helmer, an Army veteran who lost to Wexton in the 2018 Democratic primary, led the 10th District field in fundraising and won the endorsement of the Washington Post’s editorial page. His rivals include state Sen. Suhas Subramanyam, a former Obama White House aide who has Wexton’s support, and former state House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn.
In the 2nd District, where freshman Rep. Jen Kiggans (R) is defending her seat for the first time since unseating Elaine Luria (D), Democrats are likely to nominate Navy veteran Missy Cotter Smasal to oppose Kiggans, a former Navy helicopter pilot. The district is a Navy bastion with one of the highest concentrations of military veterans in the nation.
Oklahoma
Cole isn’t taking anything for granted as he campaigns for a 12th term in the Republican-friendly 4th District, which includes Norman and Lawton south of Oklahoma City. He has Trump’s endorsement and intensified his fundraising in the face of a challenge from wealthy businessman Paul Bondar, who self-funded his bid with more than $5 million.
Cole and allied super PACs called attention to Bondar’s thin ties to Oklahoma. Three other Republicans are on the primary ballot and a majority of votes is needed to win. A runoff, if needed, would be held Aug. 27.
GOP’s Chief Appropriator Faces Deep-Pocketed Primary Challenger
Georgia
Brian Jack, who was the Trump White House’s political director before working for McCarthy’s political operation, has the edge in a Republican runoff over former state Sen. Mike Dugan. Jack had 47% of the vote in the May 21 primary, falling just short of the majority needed to win. Dugan, the runner-up over three other candidates, had 25%.
Jack’s most recent donors include House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), billionaire Paul Singer, and investor Timothy Mellon. Defend American Jobs, a super PAC funded by cryptocurrency industry leaders, boosted Jack’s campaign.
The runoff is the de facto general election in an area southwest of Atlanta Trump won by 30 percentage points in the 2020 election. Rep. Drew Ferguson (R) didn’t seek re-election.
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