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State Sen. Suhas Subramanyam Wins Democratic Primary in Virginia’s 10th Congressional District

State Sen. Suhas Subramanyam Wins Democratic Primary in Virginia’s 10th Congressional District

  • The 37-year-old Indian American emerged victorious in a crowded field of 11 candidates, including Krystle Kaul, who were vying to succeed Rep. Jennifer Wexton, who will retire at the end of her current term.

Virginia state Sen. Suhas Subramanyam has won the Democratic primary from the state’s 10th Congressional District. The 37-year-old emerged victorious in a crowded field of 11 candidates, including Indian American Krystle Kaul, who were vying to succeed Rep. Jennifer Wexton. Subramanyam will face Republican Mike Clancy, a lawyer and business executive in the November election. 

In a statement acknowledging the win, Subramanyam thanked volunteers, activists, supporters, staff, and family for “coming together to pull off this incredible victory.” Hie campaigned for “eight months, knocked on 50,000 doors, and raised $1.2 million,” he said. “I am honored to be your Democratic nominee for Virginia’s 10th Congressional District,: he said. “This district is my home. I got married here. My kids were born here,” he noted. “The issues our community faces are personal to our family. I will continue to be a champion for families here and make sure everyone feels like they have a voice.” He thanked his “friend and mentor,” Rep. Weston, for her “fearless leadership and support.” Though she “will leave big shoes to fill, Subramanyam said he’s “ready for the challenge.”

In an earlier interview, Subramanyam told American Kahani that he chose to run for Congress because he cares deeply about the community he represents in his home state. Over the years, he has not only seen a lot of the changes happening but has also felt the effects of some, he said, adding that he wants to address the “dysfunction and extremism in politics.” He describes himself as a “problem solver,” especially the “toughest” ones when the odds seem stacked against him. 

The young lawmaker decided to run for the U.S. Congress seat, which overlaps his state Senate seat after getting positive feedback from his constituents in the “Democratic-leaning” and “diverse” district.” He has won five elections, and has  “always had a good showing for Democrats,” he added.  “I have a track record of success delivering for people all over the district and all the counties in the district,” he said. His U.S. Congress campaign has already received “a lot of support.”

On the day of the June 18 election, The New York Times ran a piece calling the  state’s 10th Congressional District election as “perhaps the ugliest primary of the 2024 election so far.” It also noted that Subramanyam’s “win is likely to be a relief for national Democrats who had watched anxiously as another front-runner in the race — State Representative Dan Helmer — faced calls to drop out over an accusation of sexual harassment.”

Apart from Helmer, other candidates in the Democratic primary for Virginia’s 10th Congressional District had their share of controversies as well, according to The Times. “. Another top candidate, Eileen Filler-Corn, was “attacked by a progressive political action committee over a donation to a pro-Israel group that then endorsed her,” The Times report said. Krystle Kaul, “one of the field’s top fund-raisers, faces charges of embellishing her rĂ©sumĂ© well beyond the usual flourishes of a political campaign.” Even Subramanyam, “beat back a report that he improperly put employees of his state Senate staff on his campaign payroll, an accusation he says is categorically false,” The Times report said. 

The seat wasn’t considered to be part of the “2024 battlefield,” The Times explained, “until an anonymous Democratic official in the district, speaking through her lawyer, accused Helmer of groping her and later making sexually crude remarks.” Subramanyam, meanwhile, “tried to stay above the fray, banking on his name recognition, record as a state senator, and the endorsement of. Wexton,” the Times report added. The district had been trending away from Republicans since 2018, when Wexton flipped it to her party after nearly 40 years of Republican control.

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Last November, Subramanyam, who has represented eastern Loudoun in the House of Delegates for the past four years, won his State Senate bid to represent District 3. He replaced the incumbent, Democrat John Bell, who did not seek reelection following a cancer diagnosis. Democrats fared well in the state, helping flip the House of Delegates to Democratic control, and preserving a blue majority in the state Senate.

A former technology policy adviser to President Barack Obama, he made history in 2019 when he won his bid for the House in the Nov. 5 election, along with Ghazala Hashmi, who won her State Senate seat. Both Subramanyam and Hashmi, along with dozens of other Democratic candidates were catalytic in turning the southern state totally blue as the Democrats took full control of the state legislature. In 2021, he was among the group of lawmakers that founded the Commonwealth Caucus, “aimed at encouraging bipartisanship within the General Assembly,” according to the Loudoun Times-Mirror.

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