2025 Virginia's 11th congressional district special election

← 2024 September 9, 2025 2026 →
Virginia's 11th congressional district
Nominee James Walkinshaw Stewart Whitson Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 113,596 37,297 Percentage 75.14% 24.67%
County and independent city results Walkinshaw:     70–80%
U.S. Representative before election Gerry Connolly Democratic Elected U.S. Representative James Walkinshaw Democratic

Elections in Virginia
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v t e

Aspecial election to determine the member of theUnited States House of Representatives forVirginia's 11th congressional district was held on September 9, 2025. The seat became vacant following the death of DemocratGerry Connolly on May 21, 2025. The district was consideredsafely Democratic.

Fairfax County SupervisorJames Walkinshaw won the primary with 59% of the vote, defeatingIrene Shin andStella Pekarsky. Stewart Whitson, a former FBI agent, won the primary with 39% of the vote. In the general election, Walkinshaw outraised Whitson by $1 million to $224 thousand.

In the September 9 general election, Walkinshaw defeated Whitson by roughly 50 percentage points, a much larger margin of victory than in2024.

Incumbent representativeGerry Connolly died ofesophageal cancer on May 21, 2025.^[1] Connolly had previously announced that he would not seek re-election in 2026.^[2] He was first elected in2008, and had announced his cancer diagnosis shortly after being re-elected in 2024.^[3] In the United States, vacancies in the House must be filled by special elections. Under Virginia law, the governor schedules the special election and political parties handle their nominating processes themselves. Republican GovernorGlenn Youngkin called a special election to be held on September 9, 2025. The deadline for candidates to file a candidacy was July 11, 2025.^[4]

Based primarily inFairfax County, this suburban district is widely regarded by political analysts to be asafely Democratic seat. The last time aRepublican was elected to this district was in2006, whenTom Davis was re‑elected. As of 2025, the seat has remained underDemocratic control ever since, and Connolly won it by 67% to 33% in 2024.^[5]

Opponents ofJames Walkinshaw, includingStella Pekarsky andIrene Shin, have alleged that the primary election was biased in favor of Walkinshaw, pointing to the short timeline for the election and the party's choice not to useranked-choice voting in the primary.^[6] Pekarsky, Shin, and other candidates have expressed frustration with delays in the party releasing voting locations and other information. Other candidates have shared concerns that party volunteers have publicly displayed a preference for Walkinshaw while working on behalf of the party.^[7]

Fairfax County Democratic Committee chair Aaron Yohai denied Shin and Pekarsky’s claims, blaming Virginia governorGlenn Youngkin for scheduling the election so soon, which he said caused the delays in information.^[8] Walkinshaw told Virginia Scope the complaints were candidates "trying to work the refs."^[9]

On June 24, Connolly's social media accounts posted messages of support for Walkinshaw, causing shock and controversy on social media.^[10]

• James Walkinshaw,Fairfax County supervisor (2019–present) and former chief of staff toGerry Connolly^[11]

• Candice Bennett, member of theFairfax County Planning Commission (2020–present)^[12]
• Ross William Branstetter IV, businessman^[13]
• Dan Lee, healthcare technology entrepreneur^[14]
• Leopoldo Martínez Nucete, former senior counselor of theMinority Business Development Agency (2024–2025) and former deputy to theNational Assembly of Venezuela (2000–2005)^[15]
• Amy Papanu, former CIA operations officer and national security expert^[16]
• Stella Pekarsky,state senator from the36th district (2024–present)^[17]
• Priya Punnoose, psychiatrist^[18]
• Amy Roma, energy policy lawyer^[19]
• Irene Shin,state delegate from the8th district (2022–present)^[14]

• Jennifer Boysko,state senator from the38th district (2019–present) and candidate forVirginia's 10th congressional district in2024(endorsed Walkinshaw and Shin)^[20]
• Steve Descano,Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney (2020–present)(endorsed Walkinshaw)^[21]
• Eileen Filler-Corn, formerSpeaker of the Virginia House of Delegates (2020–2022) from the41st district (2010–2024) and candidate forVirginia's 10th congressional district in2024(endorsed Walkinshaw)^[22]
• Dan Helmer,state delegate from the10th district (2020–present) and candidate forVirginia's 10th congressional district in2018 and2024^[23]
• Dave Marsden, state senator from the35th district (2010–present)(endorsed Walkinshaw)^[24]
• Jeff McKay, chair of theFairfax County Board of Supervisors (2020–present)(endorsed Walkinshaw)^[25]
• Saddam Azlan Salim,state senator from the37th district (2024–present)(endorsed Pekarsky)^[26]

The Republicans held a canvass to determine their nominee on June 28 atFairfax High School, rather than run a full primary.^[43]

• Stewart Whitson, government relations professional^[44]

• Nathan Headrick, banking executive^[45]
• Karina Lipsman, systems engineer and nominee forVirginia's 8th congressional district in2022^[46]
• Arthur Purves, president of the Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance^[47]
• Lucas Rand, hospital administrator^[48]
• Mike Van Meter, behavioral therapist and nominee for this district in2024^[49]
• Sam Wong,U.S. Army veteran^[50]

• Chandrashekar Tamirisa, sustainability leader^[56]

Partisan clients

Official campaign websites

• James Walkinshaw (D) for Congress
• Stewart Whitson (R) for Congress

• 2025 Virginia elections
• 2025 United States House of Representatives elections
• September 2025 in the United States
• Special elections to the 119th United States Congress
• United States House of Representatives special elections
• Virginia special elections

• Articles with short description
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• Use mdy dates from May 2025