Suhas Subramanyam and Hung Cao both advanced to the general election in their congressional primaries in Virginia.
Subramanyam is vying to replace Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-Leesburg) in the 10th Congressional District. Wexton endorsed Subramanyam from a crowded field of Democratic candidates. She is retiring for health reasons.
With 94% of the precincts reporting, Subramanyam has 13,063 or 30.4% of the vote with Dan Helmer placing second with 11,494 or 26.7%, reported The Hill. Subramanyam topped 11 candidates in a district Joe Biden won by 18 points.
“This is bittersweet because, honestly, I want Jennifer Wexton to continue to be our (congresswoman),” Subramanyam said to the Loudown Times-Mirrow. “I know it’s because of her health that she’s not able to do it. But you know, she’s always been a mentor to me, a friend to me, and she’s always believed in me even when I didn’t believe in myself.”
According to the Virginia Mercury, the Indian American candidate has been a state senator since 2020 and former White House technology advisor in the Obama administration.
“This community means so much to me,” Subramanyam said at an election night victory party. “My kids are here, my wife is here, and we got married and my kids were born here. We want the next — not just the next two years, the next 20 years and beyond — to be beautiful and wonderful for the people in this community. That’s what this movement was about. That’s what this election was about.”
Cao won the statewide Republican primary and will faceoff with Democratic incumbent Tim Kaine in November. USA Today reports Cao exhausted nearly his entire campaign war chest, spending $5.7 million to beat four Republican rivals.
“President Trump and I will win in November, we will secure the border, we will protect Social Security, and we will save America. I spent twenty-five years fighting for this country, and I’m not done,” said Cao on X.
Cao won with 65% of the vote, WRIC reported. He is a Vietnamese refugee and Navy veteran. He ran unsuccessfully against Wexton in 2022.
“I’m facing an opponent who called a Staunton newspaper ‘podunk’ and claimed that traveling from Northern Virginia to Abingdon for a candidate forum would be ‘ridonkulous.’ How elitist!” Kaine said in a statement. “You know I’ll stand up for you because I always show up for you.”
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