Just over one month from the February 19 special election to fill the vacancy in the 86th House District, the Republican Party will hold a mass meeting on Saturday, January 19 to nominate a candidate for the race. The special election on January 8 in the 33rd Senate District to replace Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton (VA-10) was won by then-Delegate Jennifer Boysko (D-Fairfax), causing the vacancy in the lower chamber.
On January 12, Ibraheem Samirah was nominated as the Democratic candidate.
The GOP meeting is scheduled to take place at the Fairfax Christian School at 22870 Pacific Boulevard in Dulles at 9:00 a.m. Only Republicans in the 86th District can participate in the mass meeting to select a candidate.
Prospective candidates will have until 9:00 a.m. on Friday, January 18 to provide a written statement of intent to Chairman Amanda Morris of the nominating committee.
Previously in the 86th House District, former Republican Delegate Tom Rust decided not to run for re-election in 2015, with Boysko winning the seat by a margin of 12 percentage points, and by a 2-to-1 margin in the 2017 statewide “blue wave.”
Republicans currently have a 51-48 edge in the House of Delegates during the 46-day session in Richmond set to adjourn on February 23.
As all 140 seats in both houses of the Virginia legislature will be up for re-election this November, Republicans will look to gain back ground in a state with an encroaching progressive Democratic caucus in both chambers and an all-Democratic executive branch.
Furthermore, banking on their 15-seat gain just two years ago and the results of the 2018 midterm elections that led Democrats to take back Virginia’s congressional delegation from the GOP, recruitment and training on part of the liberal party is likely to be well-funded in such a consequential election.