WASHINGTON – Democrat James Walkinshaw won the special elections of September 9 Virginia to the Chair of Rep. To fill Gerald Connolly, so that the Republican margin in the American house of representatives is shrinking to six seats.
Walkinshaw, who served as Staff Chef from Connolly and is a supervisor of Fairfax County, defeated the Republican Stewart Whitson, a former FBI Special Agent and US Army Fight Feteran. Walkinshaw will now represent the deep blue 11th Congress district of Virginia, which covers the majority of Fairfax County in the suburbs of Washington.
The victory of Walkinshaw means that Democrats are now holding 213 seats in the house, while Republicans have 219 seats. House speaker Mike Johnson already had problems getting legislation across the finish line with a razor thin gop -majority. Johnson can now only afford to lose two Republican voices about a certain bill if all Democrats are against.
Connolly died at the age of 75 in May, after he announced that his esophageal cancer had returned. In December last year he provided a place to be a member of the ranking of the Huiscommissie for Supervision and Government Reform, which has the authority to keep and keep the federal government responsible. He defeated Progressive Firebrand New York Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for the position. California Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia has since become the ranking of the committee minority.
Connolly is the third house democrat that dies since the start of the 119th congress in January. Reps. Sylvester Turner from Texas and Raul Grijalva from Arizona died in March within 10 days in succession.
Voters released their early votes at the early vocational location of the Nieuwe Harvest Park in Knoxville on August 6, 2025.
Walkinshaw announced his conference bid in May after Connolly said that he would not look for re -election in 2026.
“This is a fire moment of five alarms for democracy. Step one for stopping Trump achieves a great victory for the Virginia Democratic ticket in 2025 and step two takes the congress back in 2026,” Walkinshaw said at the time.
This article originally appeared on USA Today: Democrat wins special elections to the Chair of Rep. Gerald Connolly to fill
