Virginia Senator Suhas Subrahmanyam was projected to win the Democratic primary for Virginia’s 10th Congressional District with the backing of a congressional candidate seen as a potential successor.
Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-VA) has announced that she will retire at the end of her term after being diagnosed with a debilitating form of Parkinson’s disease called progressive supranuclear palsy.
Wexton subsequently endorsed Subrahmanyam over a host of other candidates for the seat, which was Republican-held for much of the 20th century but has gone Democratic in recent elections.
Subrahmanyam has also been endorsed by state Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, a Democrat from Mount Vernon, and several state senators who live near his district, which includes Dulles International Airport and Ashburn, home of the NFL team Washington Commanders.
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Subrahmanyam had previously said he was “thrilled” by Wexton’s support, telling his local newspaper the Loudoun Times Mirror that the candidate “has deep roots in the community and I’m pleased to be working with him on a range of local issues that are important to my constituents”.
Subrahmanyam is also a lawyer and served as a White House technology policy adviser to then-President Barack Obama, where he worked on cybersecurity threats and government technology modernization, and organized volunteers after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, the city where he attended college.
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The district is made up of the densely populated Washington, D.C., suburbs of Loudoun County, the independent city of Manassas, and rural Fauquier and Rappahannock counties.
Wexton’s seat was held for decades by Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.), from the Reagan Revolution through the Obama administration, and was later replaced by his former aide, moderate Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.).
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Virginia Democratic Rep. Jennifer Wexton speaks at a campaign event for Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe, in Manassas, Virginia, USA, Sunday, Oct. 31, 2021. One of the final polls in the Virginia gubernatorial race showed education as voters’ top concern and the race essentially even. (Photographer: Pete Kiehart/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Wexton defeated Comstock in 2018, and the district has trended increasingly Democratic since then.
The Cook Political Report rates the district D+6 and predicts a likely Democratic win in the November election.
