The statewide primaries are behind us, but many folks in northern Virginia are still in the middle of a congressional primary. If you are in the 11th Congressional District, you can find information about where to vote here. Be sure to have your voice heard if you live in the 11th Congressional District.

We have four more great General Assembly candidates to highlight for you in this week’s Flip and Defend-a-District. I hope that you can take a moment to learn more about them and support them however you can.

At Project Blue Dominion, we are committed to uplifting every Virginia Democratic candidate with our Flip and Defend-a-District newsletter. This week, we are highlighting:

With Virginia in the national spotlight, the stakes are higher than ever—and you have the power to help elect Democrats. Every candidate highlighted in this newsletter deserves your support. As we race to election day, we need to stay energized, stay united, and seize this historic opportunity.

Lily Franklin came just 183 votes short of flipping this seat in 2023. She proved that she can connect with voters across party lines and build a campaign with the power to win.

Several generations of Lily’s family live in Southwest Virginia, and she’s spent the majority of her life in these mountains.

She graduated from Northside High School and Longwood University and started her career as a high school math teacher in rural Appalachia.

As a Chief of Staff in the House of Delegates, she learned how to wrestle legislative victories for her community. Lily pushed for legislation resulting in a grant program for local food and farming infrastructure and championed legislation to establish maximum contaminant levels for the cancer-causing and deadly “forever” chemicals in drinking water.

Lily has  a proven record of fighting for SWVA, and she knows how to get things done in Richmond. She knows the problems her community faces because this is her home. She knows how to get things done in Richmond because she’s worked there. This is her home and she’ll never stop fighting for it.

House District 41 encompasses parts of Montgomery County, including all of Virginia Tech, and parts of Roanoke County. Once a truly purple region, it swung hard right in the 2021 election. But when we look at the trends, we have lots of reasons to be optimistic this year.

In 2023  Lily overperformed Joe Biden’s 2020 (and now Kamala Harris’s 2024) numbers.

Lily proved that she’s the exact right type of candidate to flip this seat when she lost by merely 183 votes in 2023.

Lily is set to take on Freshman Delegate Chris Obenshain, one of the most vulnerable candidates the Republicans are fielding this cycle. With few policy wins to point to, Obenshain is hoping to ride the coattails of President Trump and Governor Youngkin this November.

Mary Person is a proud native of Emporia, Virginia, and has served as an educator in her community for the past 26 years. She began her career as a teacher of children with autism, a role which she proudly held for 12 years.

Throughout her years, Mary has served multiple terms across several elected offices including twelve years on the Emporia City Council and a term as the Mayor of Emporia.

Currently serving as Principal of Bellfield Elementary in Emporia, Mary is running to build the Virginia her students deserve.

Spread across six counties and one independent city, House District 83 is primed to flip this cycle.

Democrats carried the district as recently as 2018, and Senator Kaine even carried it in the 2018 cycle. With conditions mirroring those we saw in 2018, this is a seat everyone will be watching on election night.

In November, Mary will face Sophomore Delegate and former pharmacist Otto Wachsmann. While the district he represents is purple, Wachsmann’s voting record is bright red. He’s voted in lockstep with GOP leadership 91% of the time, including key votes on constitutional amendments to protect voting and reproductive rights.

With over three decades of law enforcement, crisis response, and international peacekeeping experience, Angela Chainer has served at the front lines of conflict and the heart of her community.

Now Angela is running for the House of Delegates because she sees how our public institutions are struggling—and she knows we can do better. Whether it’s ensuring access to quality healthcare, supporting family farms, defending public education, or improving infrastructure in rural communities, Angela believes solutions start with listening, with lifting up everyday people, and with rebuilding trust from the ground up.

Spanning seven counties and nearly touching Lynchburg, Charlottesville, and Richmond, House District 56 is a large slice of rural and exurban Virginia.

While this will be an uphill battle, Democratic performance has improved every year since 2021. With a fired up base, this is the best chance we’ve had in years of flipping the district.

Angela is set to face controversial incumbent Delegate Tom Garrett this November. Garrett has served in both the Virginia Senate and the House of Delegates, but is best remembered for his single term in the US House of Representatives that ended in disgrace.

As he was preparing for re-election for Congress, Garrett became dogged by reports that he and his wife were using his congressional staff as personal assistants. Some examples included having staffers run errands, shuttle his children, and clean up after his dogs on the taxpayer dime. Things quickly spiraled out for Garrett, who announced he was struggling with alcoholism and would not seek re-election.

Shortly after, he divorced his wife in an acrimonious process that included a lawsuit from his ex-wife alleging false imprisonment, emotional distress, trespassing, and civil assault.

Last bust certainly not least is my colleague and fellow Fairfax County resident Paul Krizek. Serving as Delegate since 2016, Paul is a proud Mount Vernon native. A graduate of Groveton High School (now West Potomac), the University of Virginia, and Catholic University Law School, he now lives with his wife and daughter in his childhood home in the Hollin Hills neighborhood of Mount Vernon. He has dedicated his life and career to community service and progressive values.

Paul began his public service career with Congressman Jim Moran as his immigration constituent service staffer and later became his legislative aide. Since 1999, Paul has served as Chief Counsel and Vice President at Christian Relief Services Charities, an international humanitarian organization that locally provides homes for abused women, children, the handicapped, and the homeless.

In the General Assembly, Paul has been a vocal advocate and vital resource for his constituents. He chairs key subcommittees on Appropriations, General Laws, and Privileges & Elections, and his flawless voting record and consistent support of democratic ideals have made him a pillar of our majority.

Located on the bank of the Potomac River in Fairfax County, District 16 is one of the districts most heavily impacted by Trump’s federal workforce cuts.

Based on the primary numbers, Democrats are working overtime to make sure this district powers record turnout in November.

In the general election, Paul will take on independent candidate Shelly Arnoldi. Despite running as an independent, Arnoldi is a vocal supporter of Trump’s MAGA agenda and is a full throated believer in almost every fringe conservative conspiracy theory you can think of. Don’t take my word for it, you can read her abhorrent thoughts firsthand on her personal Twitter account.

That’s it for Volume 4 of our Flip and Defend-a-District Friday series. We’ll be back next week and every week until Election Day to share more about our great candidates. In the meantime, I encourage you to review this email and future editions to find a candidate or candidates whom you would like to support with your time or financial resources.

Project Blue Dominion is committed to supporting Democratic candidates in every corner of the Commonwealth. Join us. The fight to protect and expand our House majority is on.

Best,

Rip Sullivan