Democrat wins the special elections of Virginia considered as a Trump referendum

The Democrats will keep a vacant seat of the congress in the suburbs of Northern Washington, DC, in a special election considered as a referendum on President Donald Trump and his radical and controversial program.

The candidate of the Democratic Party, James Walkinshaw, defeated Republican candidate Stewart Whitson in the 11th district of the Virginia Congress, according to the Associated Press.

Walkinshaw will succeed in the longtime democrat representative Gerry Connolly, who died in May after a battle against cancer.

Before Tuesday’s special elections, the Republicans checked Chamber 219-212, with three seats controlled by vacant democrats, as well as that held by the GOP. Walkinshaw’s victory in the left district that the Republicans have not won for almost two decades in addition to shrinking the Fragile of the GOP Majority of the house.

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Campaign signs for Republican Stewart Whitson and Democrat James Walkinshaw on September 8, 2025, in Fairfax, Virginia, on the eve of a special election in the 11th district of the Virginia Congress. (Paul Steinhauser / Fox News)

With the vast majority of votes counted on Tuesday evening, Walkinshaw seemed to go towards a margin of victory of around 50 points on Whitson. Connolly won the re-election of nearly 34 points last December and 33 points halfway through 2022.

“Walkinshaw’s victory at Walkinshaw continues the dominant trend that we see so far this year – Democrats overperform massively in almost all races,” said Ken Martin, president of the National Democratic Committee, in a statement.

The district is home to tens of thousands of officials and government officials, and federal jobs reduce by the Ministry of Efficiency of the Government of Trump (DOGE) and crime and immigration, transgender policies and even pressure to release the files of the Ministry of Justice on the sex offender sentenced to the end of Jeffrey Epstein were all under the campaign.

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“The people of the north of Virginia and Fairfax feel the impact of Trump’s policies. And I like to say that we are in a way at the forefront of Trump’s economy here. Everyone in Fairfax knows someone, probably someone on their street, perhaps the parent of their child’s football team, who lost their jobs because of Doge or Trump policies,” Walkinshaw the election.

James Walkinshaw, the candidate of the Democratic Party in the special elections of the 11th District of the Virginia Congress, was interviewed by Fox News Digital on September 8, 2025 in Burke, Virginia. (Paul Steinhauser / Fox News)

Walkinshaw, a member of the Board of Directors of the County Fairfax who previously was chief of the staff of Connolly, argued that “if Trump’s policies continue, tariffs, the so-called major bill, this would be the case throughout the country. So, I think we are to the advantage. And I think the voters are going on this subject.”

Whitson also said that Trump was under the spotlight because of “many large policies he defended”.

Whitson, an army veteran and former FBI special agent who supervises federal affairs for a conservative reflection group, told Fox News Digital “The inhabitants of our district who have lost their jobs or who fear losing their jobs, they do not need empathy. They need solutions.”

He said that Walkinshaw said “that he was going to fight President Trump and fight the administration. And my argument for the voters of our district is: that will help? Is this going to improve the situation? The answer is no.

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“We need someone to represent the inhabitants of our district who can work with any administration, whether republican or democrat,” said Whitson.

Although Trump is not very popular in the district – the president won only 31% of the votes in his re -election of the White House last year – Whitson said that Trump’s policies “focus on … common sense”.

Fox News Kiera McDonald contributed to this report.