Democrat wins Virginia particular election seen as Trump referendum

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Democrats will maintain onto a vacant congressional seat within the northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., in a particular election seen as a referendum on President Donald Trump and his sweeping and controversial agenda.

Democratic Celebration nominee James Walkinshaw defeated Republican nominee Stewart Whitson in Virginia's left-leaning eleventh Congressional District, in response to the Related Press.

Walkinshaw will succeed the late longtime Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly, who died in June after a battle with most cancers.

Heading into Tuesday's particular election, Republicans managed the Home 219-212, with three seats managed by Democrats vacant, in addition to one held by the GOP. Walkinshaw's victory within the left-leaning district that Republicans have not received in practically twenty years additional narrows the GOP's fragile House majority .

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<source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/09/343/192/whitson-walkinshaw-campaign-signs-fairfax-county-va-sept.-8-2025.jpg?ve=1&tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/09/686/384/whitson-walkinshaw-campaign-signs-fairfax-county-va-sept.-8-2025.jpg?ve=1&tl=1 2x" height="192" width="343"><source media="(min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1023px)" srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/09/672/378/whitson-walkinshaw-campaign-signs-fairfax-county-va-sept.-8-2025.jpg?ve=1&tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/09/1344/756/whitson-walkinshaw-campaign-signs-fairfax-county-va-sept.-8-2025.jpg?ve=1&tl=1 2x" height="378" width="672"><source media="(min-width: 1024px) and (max-width: 1279px)" srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/09/931/523/whitson-walkinshaw-campaign-signs-fairfax-county-va-sept.-8-2025.jpg?ve=1&tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/09/1862/1046/whitson-walkinshaw-campaign-signs-fairfax-county-va-sept.-8-2025.jpg?ve=1&tl=1 2x" height="523" width="931"><source media="(min-width: 1280px)" srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/09/720/405/whitson-walkinshaw-campaign-signs-fairfax-county-va-sept.-8-2025.jpg?ve=1&tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/09/1440/810/whitson-walkinshaw-campaign-signs-fairfax-county-va-sept.-8-2025.jpg?ve=1&tl=1 2x" height="405" width="720"> Marketing campaign indicators for Republican Stewart Whitson and Democrat James Walkinshaw, are seen on Sept. 8, 2025, in Fairfax County, Virginia, on the eve of a particular election in Virginia's eleventh Congressional District. (Paul Steinhauser - Fox Information )

The district is dwelling to tens of hundreds of presidency employees and contractors, and the federal jobs cuts applied by Trump's Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE), in addition to crime and immigration, transgender insurance policies, and even the push to launch the Justice Division's information on the late convicted sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein, have been all within the highlight on the marketing campaign path.

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"People in Northern Virginia and Fairfax are feeling the affect of the Trump insurance policies. And I wish to say we're form of on the forefront of the Trump economic system right here. All people in Fairfax is aware of somebody, in all probability somebody on their avenue, perhaps the guardian of their child's soccer crew, who has misplaced their job due to DOGE or the Trump insurance policies," Walkinshaw informed Fox Information Digital on Election Day eve.

James Walkinshaw, the Democratic Celebration nominee within the particular election in Virginia's eleventh Congressional District, is interviewed by Fox Information Digital on Sept. 8, 2025 in Burke, Va. (Paul Steinhauser - Fox Information )

Walkinshaw, a Fairfax County Board of Supervisors member who beforehand served as Connolly’s chief of employees, argued that "if the Trump insurance policies proceed, tariffs, the so-called large, stunning invoice, that is going to be the case throughout the nation. So I feel we're on the forefront of that. And I feel voters tomorrow are going to ship an announcement about that."

Whitson additionally stated that Trump was within the marketing campaign highlight due to a "lot of the good insurance policies that he is been championing."

Whitson, an Military veteran and former FBI particular agent who oversees federal affairs for a conservative assume tank, informed Fox Information Digital that "the individuals in our district who've misplaced their job or who're apprehensive about shedding their job, they do not want empathy. They want options."

He stated Walkinshaw claimed "he'll battle President Trump and battle the administration. And my pitch to voters in our district is: is that going to assist? Is that going to assist enhance the state of affairs? The reply isn't any."

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"We'd like somebody to characterize the individuals in our district who can work with any administration, whether or not it is Republican or Democrat," Whitson emphasised.

Whereas Trump is not very fashionable within the district — the president received simply 31% of the vote in his White Home re-election final 12 months – Whitson stated that Trump's polices "heart on… frequent sense."

Fox Information' Kiera McDonald contributed to this report.

Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based mostly within the swing state of New Hampshire. He covers the marketing campaign path from coast to coast."