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Virginia Del. Dan Helmer (D-Fairfax) Wednesday announced that he is joining the race to succeed U.S. Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.), adding to a crowded field of Democrats who have declared their candidacies in the past few weeks.
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Helmer, 42, competed against Wexton for the 2018 Democratic nomination in the state’s 10th Congressional District before Wexton flipped the district blue by defeating Rep. Barbara Comstock (R) that fall. Wexton has said she will not seek reelection for health reasons.
With the open seat believed to be competitive, Helmer — who, as his caucus’s campaigns chair, helped Democrats regain control of the General Assembly in last week’s elections — said he has the ability to energize the Democratic base while also appealing to moderate voters in an era of intense partisan division embodied by the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.
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“What sets me apart is I’m someone who’s always stood up to defend democracy,” Helmer said in an interview, highlighting his experience as a U.S. Army intelligence officer in Iraq, Afghanistan and South Korea and his roots as a grandson of Ukrainian Jews who escaped the Holocaust. “I have a family background that knows what happens when governments fail.”
Del. David A. Reid (D-Loudoun), state Sen. Jennifer B. Boysko (D-Fairfax), former House speaker Eileen Filler-Corn (D-Fairfax) and Atif Qarni, the state’s former education secretary, are also vying for the Democratic nomination in the 10th District.
Republican Mike Clancy, an attorney and tech company executive, has announced a bid for his party’s nomination in the district that is primarily anchored in Loudoun County, extending into Prince William and Fairfax counties and southwest to Rappahannock County.
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The district has trended blue in recent elections, but Wexton’s departure makes it more competitive for Republicans. Glenn Youngkin (R) narrowly lost the district to former governor Terry McAuliffe (D) in the 2021 gubernatorial election. In 2020, President Biden took 59 percent of the vote in the district.
Helmer, who co-owns a management consulting firm, brings a sometimes provocative style of campaigning that, in 2019, helped him unseat Del. Timothy D. Hugo (R-Fairfax), a leader in the state GOP who controlled that House of Delegates district for 17 years.
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Last week, Helmer was reelected to a third term. As a state delegate, he has championed gun control legislation, including a red-flag law passed in 2020, and sponsored a 2022 law that requires hospitals in Virginia to post standard charges for items and services on their websites.
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Helmer has also fought to protect victims of sexual assault at higher education institutions from being disciplined if they were consuming alcohol or drugs when the act occurred.
A 2020 law he sponsored did that but excluded cadets at the Virginia Military Institute from those protections, the result of heavy lobbying by that institution. But Helmer, a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, successfully pushed for VMI to be included through another bill passed this year.
“I fought that for three years,” Helmer said. Now, “if you’re a sexual assault victim at VMI, you can come forward and report and not be subject to a disciplinary hearing.”
The state delegate has not been averse to using his platform in Richmond to address national politics. A bill Helmer sponsored this year sought to prevent anyone who participated in the Jan. 6 insurrection from running for elected office in Virginia. That legislation never made it to a floor vote in the Republican-controlled House.
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His rising influence within the state Democratic Party has won Helmer some powerful allies. Del. Don L. Scott Jr. (D-Portsmouth), who last week was nominated to become House Speaker, said Helmer — who as campaigns chair recruited and trained candidates in targeted districts — played a crucial role in last week’s wave of Democratic victories.
“As campaigns chair, Dan Helmer was instrumental to our effort to take the majority,” Scott said in a statement provided by Helmer’s campaign. “And Dan has a proven record as one of the most effective legislators in Richmond.”
As a member of Congress, Helmer said, he intends to push for an assault weapons ban, federal legislation that secures abortion rights and changes to federal campaign finance laws.
He also plans to advocate for more workers’ rights, an issue where Democrats have lapsed that has fed into broader frustrations with the federal government, Helmer said.
“We as Democrats need to be the party of democracy,” Helmer said. “And being the party of democracy means making sure that, for working families, they believe their voice matters. We can do more to make sure we’re hearing those voices.”
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