First Trump impeachment dominates Virginia House race discussions

Former President Donald Trump‘s first impeachment is set to play a major role in the race to replace Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA).

Eugene Vindman, a key figure best known for reporting the phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in 2018 that led to Trump’s first impeachment, won the Democratic primary to replace Spanberger in Virginia’s 7th District on Tuesday. Vindman’s victory is likely to pave the way for a competitive race that would garner national attention and massive amounts of money from both parties.

Vindman first entered the national spotlight after he and his brother sounded the alarm about the phone call between Trump and Zelensky, during which Trump pressed the Ukrainian president to announce an investigation into Hunter Biden’s business dealings as his father, Joe Biden, considered running for president in 2020.

It was that phone call and the Vindman brothers’ report that led to Trump’s first impeachment in 2019. Vindman leaned on that experience throughout his primary campaign, framing his dismissal from the White House in 2020 as retaliation.

The race is considered to favor the Democratic candidate slightly as a D+1 district, but Republicans view it as a prime opportunity to flip the seat back to red for the first time since Spanberger was elected in 2018.

If successful, it wouldn’t be the first time a Democratic candidate has leaned on impeachment stardom to help elevate his or her political status. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who played a crucial role in Trump’s first impeachment, has relied on much of that experience for his Senate bid in California.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) has also become a well-known figure among Democrats after being chosen to lead Trump’s second impeachment following the Jan. 6 riot, later being appointed the ranking member of the powerful House Oversight Committee.

To be sure, Schiff and Raskin largely benefited from those roles because of their seats in deep-blue districts. Vindman’s use of the strategy could be more of a wildcard in the swing district in Virginia, but it could be a catalyst for the candidate to attract a national donor base to boost his campaign.

Vindman will face Republican Derrick Anderson, a former Green Beret who is already being targeted by Democrats as a “far-right extremist” who is “anti-abortion and anti-democracy.” Democrats are also expected to attack Anderson on his support for Trump after the former president was convicted on 34 felony charges in New York last month.

Anderson decried the conviction as a political “weaponization of the justice system,” saying he stood with Trump and “the defense of his innocence.”

Democrats were quick to seize on that defense after Anderson won his primary on Tuesday, arguing he would be “another MAGA extremist doing Trump’s bidding in Congress at the expense of Virginia families.”

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Virginia’s 7th Congressional District had long been a Republican stronghold until Spanberger flipped the seat in the 2018 midterm elections during a Democratic blue wave. Spanberger has been reelected every cycle since then but is forgoing reelection this year to run for governor of Virginia in 2025.

As a result, Republicans view the race as a ripe opportunity to flip the district back into GOP control as part of their efforts to expand their slim majority in the House. The race is rated “Lean Democratic” by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report but is considered one of the most competitive races of the 2024 cycle.