The special election in the 11th U.S. congressional district adjacent to the City of Falls Church that culminates with its final election day next Tuesday is being watched around the world because it will signal how people are thinking about the brazen regime of Donald Trump.
Democrat James Walkinshaw is fighting Republican Stewart Whitson to fill the seat vacated in May by the passing of Walkinshaw’s former boss, the late U.S. Rep Gerry Connolly. We have enthusiastically endorsed Walkinshaw, first in a special primary election and again now.
It is important not only that Walkinshaw win, but that he win big. His district, a bit of which abuts Falls Church directly, but mostly is west of it, has been turned “blue” by virtue of the outstanding job that Connolly did for 16 years. Prior to that, it was “purple” at best. In Whitson, the GOP is running its strongest candidate for the slot since the moderate Tom Davis held the seat for 13 years ending in 2008. Whitson is a former FBI agent who is the senior director of federal affairs at the D.C. Foundation for Government Accountability who says he is running “to fix the economy, protect our families and end waste, fraud and abuse.” But much more importantly than all that, he’s loyal (as all Republicans must be) to Donald Trump.
Walkinshaw is a solid, mainstream Democrat whose policies echo what Connolly represented for his district, including in his current role as a Fairfax County Supervisor. He spent hours in Falls Church on Labor Day Monday talking to constituents at Del. Marcus Simon’s event. Simon’s district overlaps a lot of the 11th, so Walkinshaw was talking with potential voters. But the message was delivered there for Falls Church residents: if you know anyone who lives in the 11th District, email or call them, and get them out to vote next Tuesday.
Readers of the News-Press will not be surprised that this newspaper also endorses the three Democrats at the top of the ticket in the November 4 general election, Abigail Spanburger for governor, Ghazala Hashmi for lieutenant governor and Jay Jones for attorney general, as well as Simon for delegate. All 100 of the state delegate seats will be on this fall’s ballots around the state. Next to New Jersey, Virginia’s elections this fall are the only major ones in the U.S. and will be a critical bellwether that the world will be paying a lot of attention to in advance of next year’s crucial national mid-term races of 2026.
Early voting for all this fall’s races begins Sept. 19. On the ballot in Falls Church will also be candidates for City Council and School Board. We plan to make our endorsements for those races before the early voting begins, in two weeks. We expect that Falls Church’s long tradition of having the highest voter turnout rate in the state will hold again this time.
