Virginia State Sen. Suhas Subramanyam was projected to win the Democratic primary in Virginia’s 10th congressional district, after being endorsed by the lawmaker he is primed to succeed.
Rep. Jennifer Wexton, D-Va., announced her retirement effective at the end of her term after being diagnosed with a debilitating form of Parkinson’s called Progressive Supra-nuclear Palsy.
Wexton later endorsed Subramanyam over a slew of other contenders for the seat, which was in Republican hands for most of the 20th century, but has trended Democratic in recent elections.
Subramanyam was also endorsed by the State Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, a Democrat from Mount Vernon, along with a handful of other state senators near his district, which contains Dulles International Airport (IAD), as well as Ashburn – where the Washington Commanders NFL team is headquartered.
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Subramanyam previously said he was “humbled” by Wexton’s endorsement, and the outgoing lawmaker told the local Loudoun Times-Mirror the now-nominee is “deeply rooted in this community… and I’ve been glad to work with him on a variety of local issues important to constituents.”
Subramanyam is also an attorney and served as a White House technology policy adviser to then-President Barack Obama, where he worked on cybersecurity threats and modernization of government agencies’ technologies. He also organized volunteers in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the city he attended college in: New Orleans.
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The congressional district comprises densely-populated outer Washington, D.C. suburbs in Loudoun County, as well as 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 into the Obama era, when moderate Rep. Barbara Comstock, R-Va., a former aide, succeeded him.
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Representative Jennifer Wexton, a Democrat from Virginia, speaks during a campaign event for Terry McAuliffe, Democratic gubernatorial candidate for Virginia, in Manassas, Virginia, U.S., on Sunday, Oct. 31, 2021. One of the final polls in the Virginia governor’s race shows the contest essentially tied with education at the top of voters’ concerns. (Photographer: Pete Kiehart/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
In 2018, Wexton defeated Comstock and the district has trended more and more blue ever since.
The Cook Political Report rates the district as D+6, predicting a likely Democratic hold in November.