Democratic House candidate Vindman advocates for changing Virginia’s state flag following photo with Confederate-themed flag

‘The buck stops with me,’ Eugene Vindman says after top Democrat calls him ‘ignorant’

Virginia Democratic congressional candidate Eugene Vindman called to change the Virginia state flag while apologizing for posing with the flag of Virginia’s Civil War-era Confederate government. “The buck stops with me,” Vindman said in his apology.

Vindman issued the apology after posing with a Civil War-era flag, used by the Confederate Virginia state government from 1861 to 1865, at a pro-Ukraine event over the weekend. Vindman is seeking to replace Democratic representative Abigail Spanberger in Virginia’s Seventh Congressional District, which covers parts of the central and northern portions of the state.

“Leaders take responsibility. The buck stops with me,” Vindman said in his apology. He went on to say that he “did not make the link to the civil war era” when posing for the picture. The Democrat appeared to blame the incident on similarities between the Civil War flag and the current Virginia state flag, which he likened to a Confederate monument. “While monuments to the confederacy have been coming down and roads glorifying traitors are being renamed around the commonwealth, we need to look at all symbols that represent this tragic history including our current banner which frankly too closely resembles the civil war version,” Vindman said.

Before issuing his apology, Vindman drew criticism from one of the state’s most powerful Democrats, Virginia State Senate president pro tempore L. Louise Lucas.

“When I saw the news that a Democratic candidate for Congress was campaigning with the confederate era Virginia flag I was angry and stunned. How could someone who wants to represent us be so ignorant of our history?” Lucas wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday. “Two days later—he still has not apologized,” she added. Vindman posted his apology just hours later.

His apology, though, sparked an attack from the leading Republican candidate in the race, former Green Beret Derrick Anderson, who objected to Vindman’s critique of the existing state flag.

“The Commonwealth is my home—the place that raised me,” Anderson posted on X in response to Vindman’s statement. “Don’t dictate to Virginians to change our flag because of your massive mistake and disrespect.”

Neither Vindman nor his campaign responded to the Washington Free Beacon‘s requests for comment.

A Virginia Scope analysis of Vindman’s campaign contributions found he received more campaign funding last year from donors in California, New York, and Florida than from Virginians. Meanwhile, during the final fundraising quarter of 2023, residents of Virginia’s seventh district reportedly accounted for only four of the hundreds of donors who gave to Vindman’s campaign.

As of April 1, Vindman had $1.84 million cash on hand, far more than any other Democrat he is taking on in the upcoming June primary. Vindman, a retired Army colonel and former senior ethics official on the Trump administration’s National Security Council, is running largely on name recognition from former president Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial. Vindman and brother Alexander raised complaints up the chain of command over Trump’s alleged attempts to pressure Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden and his embattled son Hunter. Throughout his campaign, Vindman has touted his desire to “preserve democracy,” which he says is threatened by Trump.