LIVE RESULTS: Walkinshaw wins special election for US House seat representing Fairfax

Democrat James Walkinshaw will be the newest member of Congress winning a special balloting in Virginia s th Congressional District to replace Gerry Connolly who had held the U S House seat representing the City of Fairfax and much of Fairfax County since and died in May Walkinshaw served as Connolly s chief of staff and is serving his second term as the Braddock District supervisor on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Connolly endorsed Walkinshaw as his successor before his death This is the beginning of the end for Donald Trump s reckless agenda This is the beginning of the end for MAGA rule in Washington And this is the beginning of a new chapter because the upcoming day morning I ll wake up and head to the Capitol and start fighting for our population Walkinshaw announced during a triumph speech Tuesday night Walkinshaw beat out Republican candidate Stewart Whitson a former FBI special agent and Army veteran The Associated Press called the race at p m minutes after polls closed As of p m Walkinshaw had earned nearly of the vote to Whitson s Approximately of the vote had been counted according to the AP His campaign also raised far more than Whitson s totaling over million compared to Whitson s according to the Virginia Constituents Access Project This outcome should be encouraging to Democrats who needed a big win to indicate that they are energized heading into the midterm elections WTOP Capitol Hill Correspondent Mitchell Miller revealed Walkinshaw s margin was even greater than that of Connolly s in who won with of the vote running as an incumbent The supremacy for Democrats means they now hold seats in the House of Representatives while Republicans hold Miller cautioned that Democrats should not read too much into Tuesday s supremacy as Walkinshaw was heavily favored to win the race in the deep-blue district However Walkinshaw s convincing triumph may be seen by observers as a signal of momentum for Democrats heading into Virginia s balloting for governor in November Northern Virginians have sent a very powerful message Walkinshaw announced Tonight s win is just the beginning Walkinshaw patterns his politics after his predecessor as a pragmatic progressive As a Fairfax County supervisor he s led efforts to ban guns from libraries and recreation centers improve pay and benefits for working families extend tax relief to seniors and military families and fight circumstances change according to his campaign As he prepares to be sworn in as a member of Congress Walkinshaw disclosed he s ready to challenge the Department of Leadership Efficiency and President Donald Trump s mission to shrink the federal workforce I want to take on the Trump agenda I want to end DOGE and I want to deliver results for our area as I did when I was Gerry Connolly s chief of staff as I have on the board of supervisors Walkinshaw described WTOP He mentioned going through this special voting process process has had its challenges It s been a whirlwind Walkinshaw noted It obviously started with a very hard loss of a close friend in Gerry Connolly We had a sprint to the primary a -way primary So we sprinted to that and now we ve sprinted to this special electoral contest But I ve enjoyed the greater part every minute of it had the opportunity to meet thousands and thousands of folks here in the th District and talk about their experiences and their challenges and their hopes and their dreams As of p m approximately of the district s voters had turned out to vote with nearly of them voting early and just under voting Tuesday During the last ballot for the th District seat that didn t coincide with a presidential poll more than of registered voters in the district cast a ballot Special elections traditionally have lower turnout Source