Virginia's battleground 7th Congressional District draws a large number of hopefuls

This story was updated on 11/30 with the correct spelling of Greene and Culpeper counties and to include additional candidates.

The field of Congressional hopefuls aiming to claim Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger's seat in Virginia's 7th District is growing.

Ten competitors have filed statements of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission as of Thursday. That number includes five Republican candidates and one Independent, along with four Democrats who filed after Spanberger announced that she will not seek re-election. Spanberger, a prominent moderate Democratic, plans to run for Governor in 2025.

Spanberger was the first Democrat elected to represent the district, once considered a Republican stronghold, since 1971. Her predecessors, David Brat and Eric Cantor, both rose to prominence within their party as House Republican leaders.

Spanberger, a former United States Postal Service federal agent and later a CIA officer, defeated Brat, a member of the caustic House Freedom Caucus, in 2018 when the column-shaped district stretched from rural Culpeper to Blackstone and included most of the suburbs to the west of Richmond.

Why does the 7th district matter to Virginia?

The 7th Congressional District map, redrawn in time to be implemented ahead of the 2022 contest, now includes Republican strongholds such as rural King George, Culpeper, Orange and Greene counties, along with two urban Democratic strongholds – Alexandria and Fredericksburg, which overwhelmingly went to Spanberger in 2022. Despite the shift, she beat her Republican contender, Yesli Vega, by a 4% margin in 2022, her largest margin of victory since winning the 2018 General Election.

Regardless of Vega's defeat, the Virginia GOP is hopeful in their effort to flip the battleground district with the incumbent Democrat out of the running.

“Virginia Republicans are ready to compete to win everywhere in 2024. That includes in the 7th Congressional District, where fake moderate Abigail Spanberger has for years pretended to care about the interests of her constituents while voting with Joe Biden 100% of the time,” Ken Nunnenkamp, executive director for the Virginia GOP, said.

The Virginia Democratic Party did not respond to a request for comment.

Folks interested in running for federal office can explore the possibility of becoming a candidate prior to formally announcing their candidacy. A person becomes a candidate once they raise or spend more than $5,000 in contributions or expenditures and submit a statement of candidacy to the Federal Elections Commission, according to the FEC website.

These people have filed statements of candidacy with the FEC as of Thursday:

Derrick Anderson, Republican

• Filed original statement of candidacy with the FEC on October 15, 2021 for the 2022 election.

• Filed an amended statement of candidacy on September 21 for the 2024 election.

• Formally announced? Yes.

A former U.S. Army combat veteran and attorney, Derrick Anderson is the only reoccurring candidate so far in the race to represent Virginia’s 7^th Congressional District. He threw his hat in the ring for the 2022 election but lost the Republican primary to Vega. He garnered the second most votes in the primary race, 23.8% to Vega’s 28.9%. He has been featured repeatedly on Fox News where he has criticized President Joe Biden’s foreign policy in the Middle East and blamed the Biden Administration for the ongoing conflict in Gaza. His campaign had $158,763 cash on hand at the end of September.

Craig Ennis, Independent

• Filed original statement of candidacy with the FEC on March 17.

• Formally announced? No.

No verifiable information about Craig Ennis could be found online.

William “Bill” Moher, Republican

• Filed original statement of candidacy with the FEC on May 8.

• Formally announced? Yes.

A self-described businessman, William Moher led the pack of Republican contenders with $286,454 cash on hand at the end of September, the most out of any conservative candidate for Virginia’s 7^th Congressional District at that time.

Cameron Hamilton, Republican

• Filed original statement of candidacy with the FEC on August 13.

• Formally announced? Yes.

Not to be confused with the Love Is Blind season 1 cast member, Congressional candidate Cameron Hamilton is a former Navy SEAL and a former Department of Homeland Security employee. Hamilton has also appeared repeatedly on Fox News, where he discussed the possibility of US Special Forces involvement in the conflict in Gaza. His campaign had $64,287 cash on hand at the end of September.

Jonathon Paul Myers, Republican

• Filed original statement of candidacy with the FEC on August 14.

• Formally announced? Yes.

A former Marine and intelligence officer, Jonathon Paul Myers has appeared repeatedly on Fox News and News Max recently to discuss the conflict in Gaza. He has also been an outspoken critic of the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan. His campaign had $8,144 cash on hand at the end of September.

Terris Todd, Republican

• Filed original statement of candidacy with the FEC on October 7.

• Formally announced? Yes.

A former advisor at The Heritage Foundation, a Washington, D.C., based conservative think-tank, Terris Todd was appointed by the Trump Administration in 2020 as the executive director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans within the U.S. Department of Education. Todd filed his statement of candidacy with the FEC after the Q3 campaign finance deadline.

Yevgeny “Eugene” Vindman, Democrat

• Filed original statement of candidacy with the FEC on November 16.

• Formally announced? Yes.

Famous for the role he and his twin brother played as whistleblowers in the 2019 Trump impeachment inquiry, retired Army Colonel Yevgeny Vindman entered the race after Spanberger announced she would seek state-wide office. Vindman joined the military and became a JAG officer after completing law school. He has appeared on MSNBC to announce his campaign for Congress and is not to be confused with his twin brother, Alexander, who appeared on a season 11 episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Vindman filed his statement of candidacy with the FEC after the Q3 campaign finance deadline.

Margaret Franklin, Democrat

• Filed original statement of candidacy with the FEC on November 16.

• Formally announced? Yes

Margaret Franklin is currently serving as the Woodbridge District Supervisor, and was elected Vice-Chair of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors in January 2022. During her time on the Prince William County Board of Supervisors, she led initiatives to create the county’s first child advocacy center, housing assistance program, small business grant program and led the creation of a racial and social justice commission. Franklin filed her statement of candidacy with the FEC after the Q3 campaign finance deadline.

Briana Sewell, Democrat

• Filed original statement of candidacy with the FEC on November 20.

• Formally announced? Yes.

Del. Briana Sewell currently represents Virginia’s 25th District in the House of Delegates. Prior to serving in the statehouse, she worked as the chief of staff to the Chair At-Large of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors and advocated for paid family medical leave for Virginian residents. Elected to represent the 51st district in the House of Delegates in 2021, Sewell has sponsored legislation to support veterans, students and teachers. She won her re-election to the represent the 25th District in the House of Delegates with nearly 62% of the vote, following state-wide redistricting. Sewell filed her statement of candidacy with the FEC after the Q3 campaign finance deadline.

Elizabeth Guzman, Democrat

• Filed original statement of candidacy with the FEC on November 30.

• Formally announced? Yes

Del. Elizabeth Guzman currently represents Virginia's 31st District in the House of Delegates serves as but she will be out of office once the 2024 legislative session begins due to redistricting. Guzman was redistricted into the same area as another incumbent Democrat, with new legislative maps in play for the November 2023 elections, and instead of running against that incumbent, she ran for state senate in District 29 and lost by 50 votes to Jeremy McPike. As a Delegate, Guzman advocated for paid sick leave, a living wage for workers, collective bargaining rights, the establishment of a new mental health crisis center, and a ban on assault weapons. She has also supported in-state tuition for children of military families and expedited licensure for military spouse nurses.

This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Virginia's 7th Congressional District 2024 election