Low turnout marked the Democrat victory by Fairfax County Supervisor James Walkinshaw in Tuesday’s special congressional election to succeed the late Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., in Virginia’s 11th Congressional District.
Walkinshaw easily defeated the Republican nominee, Stewart Whitson, an Army veteran and former FBI special agent, with just under 75% of the vote.
The Virginia Department of Elections found, according to WTOP radio, that just “26% of registered voters in Fairfax County cast a ballot in Tuesday’s election” and “about 11% of those voters cast a ballot early.”
Roughly the same percentage voted in the City of Fairfax, 28% of registered voters. That’s about half of the percentage of registered voters who participated in 2022, the last election in the district that was not also a presidential election. Some 55% of registered voters participated in that election, WTOP reported.
“Voters should not be fooled by the election results in Virginia’s special congressional election. The turnout was incredibly low for what that district typically turns out,” Terry Schilling, president of the American Principles Project, told The Daily Signal.
“On top of that, the Republican was outspent by more than 4 to 1. Democrats have been deflated. They’re rudderless. They might be outspending us, but these are special elections in ‘[Democrat]-plus-10’ districts that are very difficult to run in and generate support and enthusiasm for the Republicans. Republicans and voters should not read too much into these election results,” Schilling explained.
Connolly died in May after a battle with esophageal cancer. He had already announced he would not be running for reelection and had endorsed Walkinshaw, his former chief of staff, in the latter’s bid to succeed him. Connolly had represented the district since 2009.
The Northern Virginia congressional district in the suburbs of Washington is generally seen as a deep blue seat and is one of the wealthiest districts in the country, replete with federal employees and lobbyists as residents. It gave Connolly 66% of the vote in the November 2024 general election. In the 2024 presidential election, VA-11 went for then-Vice President Kamala Harris over Donald Trump by 34 points, The Washington Post reported.
That trend held yesterday, with Walkinshaw winning 109,172 to 36,530, according to Ballotpedia.com.
Walkinshaw also significantly outraised and outspent his GOP opponent, marshaling more than $1 million, compared with the less than $250,000 raised by Whitson. Whitson had been endorsed by Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and by Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, who is running in November to succeed Youngkin.