You may recall that, back in late October 2025, Virginia Delegate Dan Helmer (who led Virginia House Democrats’ extraordinarily successful 2025 campaign) entered into a settlement with two defendants – Avram Fechter and Charles King – in this case, stemming from allegations made against Helmer a few days before the June 2024 Democratic primary for the VA10 seat being vacated, at the time, by then-Rep. Jennifer Wexton. The reason for the primary, of course, was the fact that Wexton had, in September 2023, announced her “modified diagnosis of Progressive Supra-nuclear Palsy, type-p (PSP-P), a form of Atypical Parkinsonism,” and her decision to “serve the remainder of her term in the 118th Congress and not seek reelection.”
So in June 2024, VA10 Democrats held a primary to replace Rep. Wexton in the US House, with a very crowded field of candidates – including Helmer, State Senator Suhas Subramanyman, former Virginia Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn, State Senator Jennifer Boysko, former Virginia Secretary of Education Atif Qarni, Del. David Reid, Del. Michelle Maldonado, communications consultant Krystle Kaul, etc. – vying for the nomination. In the end, the nomination went to Subramanyam (who was endorsed by Wexton), by a fairly narrow margin (30.4%-26.6%) over Helmer, after the allegations against Helmer came out. Of course, we will probably never know for sure to what extent those allegations impacted the race, or if Helmer would have won without them, but it was a very close race with Subramanyman, so you never know. Also note that, in the days leading up to the primary, most of Helmer’s rivals for the nomination called for him to drop out of the race, so that could have had an effect on the race as well (although all of this took place so close to the primary, it’s hard to know how many people knew about it).
Anyway, as you can see from the following press release by Helmer, his defamation lawsuit in this matter has been settled, with Helmer saying he’s “pleased” at that, but also noting that “no amount of money will make up for the harm borne by my family.” Helmer adds:
“While we always knew our politics were dirty, the false accusations leveled against me were a new low. They caused immeasurable harm to myself, my wife, and my two children. My family has borne these attacks with incredible grace.”
So…with that, here’s the press release.
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Case Closed: Savaglio Agrees to Settle in Defamation Case Brought by Helmer
FAIRFAX – Today, Virginia Delegate Dan Helmer announced that Lisa Savaglio reached a settlement in the defamation case filed by Helmer against her.
Helmer’s settlement follows earlier settlements this year. Delegate Helmer released the following statement:
“I am pleased that Savaglio agreed to settle this matter – a case she no doubt would have lost at trial. While the terms of the settlement are undisclosed, no amount of money will make up for the harm borne by my family.
“While we always knew our politics were dirty, the false accusations leveled against me were a new low. They caused immeasurable harm to myself, my wife, and my two children. My family has borne these attacks with incredible grace.”
“Whether it’s in Afghanistan or in Richmond, I’ve never backed down from doing what’s right. Today’s settlement is a step in that direction.”
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