Democrats will hold onto northern Virginia’s 11th Congressional District after James Walkinshaw scored a landslide victory in Tuesday’s special election, filling the seat left vacant by the death of longtime Rep. Gerry Connolly.
Walkinshaw’s win adds another Democrat to the narrowly divided House of Representatives.
Big Win in Deep-Blue Seat
With nearly all votes counted, Walkinshaw led Republican Stewart Whitson by roughly 50 percentage points.
James Walkinshaw
Connolly, who died in May at age 75 after battling cancer, had represented the Fairfax-area seat since 2009. He won re-election by 34 points last year.
The 11th District, which includes thousands of federal employees and contractors, has not elected a Republican in nearly two decades.
Republicans currently hold 219 House seats, while Democrats now control 213, with three more vacancies pending.
Walkinshaw’s swearing-in will further narrow the GOP’s fragile majority heading into contentious fall votes on government funding and other issues.
Walkinshaw, 40, is a Fairfax County supervisor and former chief of staff to Connolly.
Gerry Connolly
He campaigned on protecting federal workers, opposing Trump’s cuts under the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and defending progressive social policies.
“Everybody in Fairfax knows someone who has lost their job because of Trump’s policies,” Walkinshaw told Fox News Digital before Election Day.
GOP Challenger
Whitson, an Army veteran and former FBI special agent, ran as a pragmatic conservative promising to “work with any administration.”
Stewart Whitson
He criticized Walkinshaw for running mainly to oppose Trump.
“My pitch to voters was: is that going to help? The answer is no,” Whitson said.
Democrats Celebrate
National Democrats hailed the result as another sign of momentum in 2025 special elections.
“Rep.-elect Walkinshaw’s victory continues the dominant trend we’re seeing this year — Democrats are massively overperforming in nearly every race,” DNC Chair Ken Martin said.
The district leans heavily Democratic; Trump carried only 31% of the vote here in his 2024 re-election bid.
Local concerns about Trump’s federal workforce cuts, immigration policies, and DOJ transparency over Jeffrey Epstein files all played into the campaign.
Walkinshaw also pledged to help force a House vote to release all Epstein documents, saying Democrats are just two members shy of triggering action.
What’s Next
Walkinshaw is expected to be sworn in later this week.
The next special election will be held September 23 in Arizona to replace the late Democratic Rep. Raúl Grijalva.
More vacancies are scheduled to be filled this fall, meaning the House majority could shift further before year’s end.
