Virginia’s 10th Congressional District, a Washington suburb, was never intended to be the centerpiece of the battle for control of the House. But as the ugliest Democratic primary campaign of 2024 finally comes to a close, Democrats across the country may be anxiously watching the results come in Tuesday night.
State Rep. Dan Helmer, the front-runner, is fending off sexual harassment allegations at the last minute, which he has vehemently denied. Another top candidate, Eileen Filler-Corn, came under attack from the Progressive Political Action Committee for her donations to pro-Israel groups, which subsequently endorsed her.
Krystle Kaul, one of the field’s top fundraisers, has been accused of embellishing her resume well beyond the glamor of a typical political campaign. And in the mud, another front-runner, state Sen. Suhas Subramanyam, fended off reports that he improperly put his state Senate staffers on his campaign payroll. He said the accusation was categorically false.
All of this is a surprisingly cruel coda to the political story of Rep. Jennifer Wexton, now a Democrat who flipped the Republican seat in the 2018 presidential election and then announced her retirement last year after being diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder. There is no effective treatment.
A dozen Democrats are in the race to succeed her, many of whom have stellar political resumes. Ms. Filler-Corn was the first woman and first Jewish speaker of the Virginia House of Representatives. Mr. Subramanyam is the current state senator for most of the district. Mr. Helmer is a Rhodes Scholar and military veteran who served in Afghanistan and Iraq and served as a member of the Virginia House of Representatives.
But that background and ambition laid the groundwork for a campaign that devastated a land that was once Republican horse state and is now a diverse suburban landscape. Many of the candidates know each other. Mr. Helmer was part of a group of Virginia House Democrats who ousted Mr. Filler-Corn as party leader in 2022 after the party lost control of the Legislature. And to the dismay of local party leaders, many high-profile figures refused to break away and rally around their rivals in a bid to unify the field.
None of this matters much unless the districts are overwhelmingly Democratic (they aren’t) or control of the House is on a knife-edge (it is). Until Republican Rep. Barbara Comstock’s defeat in 2018, Virginia’s 10th Congressional District had been reliably red for nearly 40 years, leaving control of next year’s Congress up to only a handful of races across the country. The House races have taken on enormous importance due to the Senate maps, which have Republicans and former President Donald J. Trump leading in most polls.
“We need a candidate who won’t jeopardize this seat, and this is not a slam-dunk Democratic seat,” Mr. Subramanyam said Monday. “We cannot compromise our ability to take back the House of Representatives, which can be the last firewall that will protect our democracy for future generations.”
Mr. Wexton backed Mr. Subramanyam in May, hoping to rally the Democratic Party and pick apart the field. Two days later, The Washington Post again took a stand in support of Mr. Helmer.
Then, last week, an anonymous Democratic Party official came forward through Helmer’s lawyer, accusing him of groping her and later making sexually explicit comments. On June 10, three former Loudoun County Democratic Party chairs and current vice chairs supported the accusers, issuing a statement saying the party developed a sexual harassment policy in response to Mr. Helmer’s “severe harassment” of Loudoun County members. . .
Soon after, the Virginia chapter of the National Organization for Women, Ms. Filler-Corn, Ms. Kaul, Mayor Michele Davis Younger of Manassas, Virginia, and others joined Mr. Helmer. urged him to withdraw from the primary. Ms. Helmer said she condemned “baseless accusations” made “a week before the election by people who supported my opponents,” which she rejected.
Republicans across the country watched, barely able to contain their glee.
“Before the primary, we will not comment on the fact that Democrats have serious ethical issues that will create subversive political attack ads and alienate many independent voters and Democratic base voters,” said Will Reinert, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee. “That would be presumptuous.”
Democratic voters in a district flooded with texts attacking Mr. Helmer could be forgiven for not knowing where to turn. Ms. Filler-Corn has also been hit with a negative ad from her progressive Virginia Democratic Party political action committee that calls her a “bad Democrat.” The group also filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleging that her state political action committee gave $110,000 to Israel Democratic Majority the day after her PAC endorsed her for Congress.
Ms. Filler-Corn responded defiantly: “It is shameful that, as a woman best positioned to win this primary, I am faced with hundreds of thousands of baseless attack ads funded by donors against other candidates in this race,” she said.
Ms. Kaul, one of the top three fundraisers in the race, has faced questions from her rivals and some local voters, mainly about where she has lent more than $552,000 to her campaign and how she has been able to translate her short career. I did. As a military contractor and communications expert, her campaign claims she “helps lead U.S. intelligence and defense operations across the CIA, U.S. Central Command, and the broader Department of Defense.”
Mr Kaul denied any intention to exaggerate his work. And she said her personal investment in her own campaign is evidence of the seriousness of her first effort in elected office.
Then, late last month, a local news outlet reported that four out of five of Mr. Subrahmanyam’s campaign staffers were also employees of the taxpayer-funded Virginia Senate. Mr. Subramaniam said he “double and triple checked” to make sure taxpayer money was not used for campaign activities.
Moreover, he said, “We are one of many campaigns that have someone in the legislature and on the campaign trail. “It’s pretty common in Virginia.”
So far, the eight Republican candidates have been reduced to four, including former Marine Alicia Andrews and retired Army Lt. Col. Alexander Isaac.
Those credible Republicans were a big reason why former Loudoun County Democratic Committee Chairman Avram Fechter said he spearheaded an open letter criticizing Mr. Helmer.
He said Republicans could absolutely win the seat, adding that his party would be taking a risk in November if it nominates Mr. Helmer.
