Virginia’s 10th Congressional District, located outside Washington, wasn’t supposed to be a pivotal part of the battle for control of the House of Representatives, but with the ugliest battle of the 2024 Democratic primary finally over, Democrats across the country may be nervously watching the results be announced on Tuesday night.
The front-runner, state Rep. Dan Helmer, faced last-minute sexual harassment accusations he has strenuously denied, and another front-runner, Eileen Filler-Corn, is under attack from the Progressive Political Action Committee over donations to a pro-Israel group that endorsed her at the time.
The most active of the candidates, Krystle Kaul, has been accused of embellishing her resume beyond the usual political flourishes. And as the accusations flew, another leading candidate, state Sen. Suhas Subrahmanyam, dismissed reports that he made improper payments to state senate officials, a charge he maintains is completely false.
It all marks a shockingly brutal ending to the political saga of current Democratic Rep. Jennifer Wexton, who unseated a Republican in the 2018 election and then announced her retirement last year after being diagnosed with a rare neurological disease for which there is no effective treatment.
Twelve Democrats are vying to succeed her, many with distinguished political records. Filler-Corn is the first female speaker of the Virginia General Assembly and the first Jewish speaker. Subrahmanyam currently serves in the state senate representing most of the district. Helmer is a Rhodes Scholar and Army veteran who served in Afghanistan and Iraq and served in the Virginia General Assembly.
But those credentials and ambitions were the platform for a campaign that has scorched what was once Republican horse country into what is now a diverse suburban landscape. Many of the candidates know each other: Mr. Helmer was part of the Virginia House Democratic caucus that ousted Ms. Filler-Corn from her leadership post after the party lost control of the chamber in 2022. And, to the dismay of local party leaders, many of the big-name candidates withdrew their candidacies, refusing to rally behind their rivals to solidify their candidacies.
None of this would matter much if the district were overwhelmingly Democratic (it isn’t) or if control of the House wasn’t on the brink (it is). Virginia’s 10th District was Republican-dominated for nearly 40 years until Republican Representative Barbara Comstock’s defeat in 2018, and control of the House next year hinges on just a handful of races nationwide. With the Senate map favoring Republicans and former President Donald J. Trump leading in most polls, the House race takes on outsized importance.
“We need a candidate who will not jeopardize this seat, but it is not a sure-fire seat for the Democratic Party,” Subrahmanyam said on Monday. “We cannot undermine our ability to retake the House of Representatives, which may be the last firewall protecting our democracy for future generations.”
Wexton endorsed Subrahmanyam in May, hoping to rally Democrats together and narrow the field, but two days later The Washington Post endorsed Helmer, again throwing the field into disarray.
Then last week, an anonymous Democratic Party insider accused Helmer of groping her and then making sexually lewd comments to her through an attorney. On June 10, three former chairs and a current vice chair of the Loudoun County Democratic Party supported the accusers and issued a statement saying the party had created a sexual harassment policy in response to Helmer’s “severe harassment” of Loudoun County members.
The Virginia chapter of the National Organization for Women, Filler-Corn, Kaul, and Manassas, Virginia, Mayor Michelle Davis-Younger quickly called on Helmer to drop out of the race, but Helmer refused, blaming the “baseless accusations” made “by people who supported my opponent a week before the election.”
Meanwhile, the Republican National Committee watched with barely concealed glee.
“We would never comment before a primary about a Democrat with serious ethical issues. It would be a devastating political attack ad and would alienate large groups of independents and Democrat voters,” said Will Reinert, a spokesman for the Republican National Congressional Committee. “It would be presumptuous.”
Democratic supporters in the district who have received a barrage of mail attacking Helmer are forgiven for not knowing where to turn. Filler-Corn has also been bombarded with negative ads by the liberal Virginia Democratic Political Action Committee, which has called her a “bad Democrat.” The group filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleging that the state’s political action committee sent $110,000 to Democratic Majority for Israel the day after the party endorsed Filler-Corn in her House race.
Filler-Corn responded defiantly: “It is shameful that I, the woman best positioned to win this primary, have been faced with hundreds of thousands of baseless attack ads funded by donors to other candidates in this race,” she said.
Kaul, one of the top three fundraisers in the race, is facing questions from rivals and some voters about where she got more than $552,000 in campaign contributions and how she translated her brief career as a military contractor and communications expert into what her campaign claims is “helping to direct America’s intelligence and defense activities across the CIA, U.S. Central Command and the Department of Defense.”
Kaul denied that she had intended to exaggerate her activities and said her personal investment in the campaign was proof of the seriousness of her commitment to her first run for office.
And late last month, local media reported that four of Subramanian’s five campaign staffers were also taxpayer-funded staffers for the Virginia Senate. Subramanian said he had “double- and triple-checked” that no taxpayer money was being used for his campaign.
He added, “We’re one of many campaign organizations that have people on both the legislative side and the campaign side. That’s common in Virginia.”
Meanwhile, the field of eight Republican candidates has been narrowed down to four, including Marine Corps veteran Alicia Andrews and retired Army Lt. Col. Alexander Isaac.
Those trusted Republicans are a big reason why Avram Fechter, former chairman of the Loudoun County Democratic Committee, spearheaded an open letter condemning Helmer.
He said Republicans could definitely win the seat, adding that he believes they would be taking a risk in November if they nominated Helmer.
