Fairfax County Supervisor James Walkinshaw will be the Democratic nominee in the upcoming special election to replace the late Virginia Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly, district party officials announced Saturday after a party-run primary.
Walkinshaw will face Republican Stewart Whitson, who also won a party-run nominating event Saturday.
Connolly had represented Virginia’s 11th district in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. for 16 years before he died of cancer in May. He endorsed Walkinshaw, who served as his chief of staff for more than a decade, shortly after he announced he wouldn’t be seeking reelection.
The special election to fill Connolly’s seat will be held on Sept. 9. Walkinshaw will be heavily favored as Democratic Kamala Harris won the district by 34 points in the 2024. Connolly comfortably held the seat since his first election in 2008.
Walkinshaw has served on the board of supervisors since January 2020, where he also chairs the board’s legislative committee.
In his endorsement, Connelly had called appointing Walkinshaw chief of staff was “one of the best decisions I ever made.”
“We need a strong representative, experienced in addressing national issues that affect our community, who can stand up to Trump and lead from day one. I believe James Walkinshaw is that leader,” Connolly wrote.
Whitson is an Army veteran and former FBI agent who works in federal affairs at a conservative think tank.
Walkinshaw and a collection of allied outside groups dominated spending on advertisements for the primary, helping him stand out in the crowded field. Pro-Walkinshaw advertisers accounted for more than half of the total ad spending for the race, about $2 million, according to the ad tracking firm AdImpact.
Just one of those groups, a liberal super PAC called “Protect Progress,” spent nearly $1 million on ads boosting Walkinshaw’s campaign and touting his connections to Connolly.
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