Eugene Vindman (D., Va.) prevailed in his election against Republican Derrick Anderson in one of the country’s tightest House races.
Vindman, a former senior ethics official on the Trump administration’s National Security Council, led Anderson by 2.2 points with 98 percent of the vote reported when the Associated Press called the race for Virginia’s Seventh Congressional District just before 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Anderson, a former Army Green Beret, was vying to win his first term in Congress after failing to win the Republican primary in 2022.
Vindman gained national attention for blowing the whistle on then-president Donald Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, a move that led to Trump’s first impeachment. Leveraging the media spotlight, Vindman raked in millions of dollars for his congressional campaign, over five times the amount raised by his opponent.
In a district heavy with defense contractors and military veterans, Vindman repeatedly touted his military service. But despite never seeing action as an operational law attorney during his six-month deployment to Iraq, Vindman routinely said he “fought for our nation in combat” and “used assault-style weapons on the battlefield.”
While reporting on the discrepancy, the Washington Free Beacon learned that the campaign was coordinating with an outside super PAC to provide communications on Vindman’s behalf.
The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust and the Functional Government Initiative both filed Federal Election Commission complaints in response. They alleged the coordination was illegal and called on the agency to investigate the campaign and the left-wing political action committee.
Vindman also faced criticism from local Democrats who argued that he “kind of drop[ped] out of the sky” and did not understand the district well enough to represent it, given that he was raised in Brooklyn and moved to Virginia in 2016. And in April, Vindman drew criticism from one of the state’s most powerful Democrats for posing with the flag of Virginia’s Civil War-era Confederate government. While apologizing, he called to change the state flag, saying it “too closely resembles the Civil War version.”
The race for the seat, which moderate Democrat Rep. Abigail Spanberger vacated in favor of a gubernatorial bid, was expected to be tight—and was considered critical for determining which party controlled the House of Representatives.
Original News Source – Washington Free Beacon
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