Former chief of staff to late Rep. Gerry Connolly wins Democratic nomination for his seat

James Walkinshaw won with 59.54% of the vote.
The former chief of staff to the late Rep. Gerry Connolly clinched the Democratic nomination to fill Connolly’s seat in a deep-blue northern Virginia district, according to the local Democratic Party.
James Walkinshaw won with 59% of the vote in Saturday’s party-run primary, according to results posted by the 11th Congressional District Democratic Committee of Virginia. He beat a field of 10 candidates that included state Sen. Stella Pekarsky and state Del. Irene Shin in the race for the special election nomination.
Shin finished in second place with 14% of the vote, while Pekarsky placed third with 13%, according to the party’s tabulation.
Walkinshaw was Connolly’s chief of staff from 2009 to 2019 and has served on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors since 2020. Walkinshaw earned an endorsement from Connolly for this race before he died.
He ran a campaign focused on stopping Trump’s “dangerous” agenda, saying he would fight to protect the district’s more than 50,000 federal workers.
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