RICHMOND, Va.—Out of the three toss-up House races in Virginia that could decide the next House majority, both Democrats and Republicans have kept their current territories.
Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-Va.) won re-election in the Virginia Beach-anchored 2nd congressional district; Democrat candidates Eugene Vindman and Suhas Subramanyam won the open seats in northern Virginia’s highly contested 7th and 10th congressional districts, respectively.
First-term congresswoman Kiggans, a former Virginia state Senator and retired Navy helicopter pilot, defeated her Democratic challenger Missy Cotter Smasal, a retired Navy officer and former small business owner, by 4.1 points.
Democrat Eugene Vindman won the district by 2.2 points, defeating Republican Derrick Anderson. Both are Army veterans and lawyers. According to the Virginia Public Access Project, a nonprofit watchdog, Vindman raised nearly $16 million, and Anderson raised nearly $3 million.
Vindman is known for his role during President Donald Trump’s first impeachment. Along with his twin brother Alexander Vindman, he reported that the president had pressed Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden during a call in July 2019, which led to the first impeachment inquiry. The GOP-controlled Senate acquitted Trump in February 2020 after the House voted to impeach him along partisan lines. The Vindman brothers later lost their jobs with the National Security Council.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) campaigned for their candidates in the two districts.
“We are doing political combat now in Washington, OK?” Johnson said at Anderson’s campaign headquarters on election eve. “I need Derrick Anderson at the table.”
While stumping for Vindman at the Mount Zion Baptist Church in Triangle, Jeffries told the rally attendees, “We’re just four seats from taking back control of the House ... This is an important seat.”
Mike Clancy, a business executive, and Virginia state Sen. Suhas Subramanyam competed for the open seat. Subramanyam won by 4.2 points.
Cao lost to Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) in a U.S. Senate race Tuesday.