The two candidates vying to replace the late Rep. Gerry Connolly in Virginia’s 11th Congressional District met face to face Monday night in Fairfax County.
In a candidates’ forum at the Reston Community Center, hosted by the Reston Citizens Association, Democrat James Walkinshaw and Republican Stewart Whitson took the stage to answer a number of questions posed beforehand by audience members.
The topics ranged from what each candidate would do to cope with the loss of thousands of federal jobs, to voting rights, economic development and the war in Gaza.
Watch video of the forum below from WTOP’s partner 7News.
Opening Statements
Democrat Walkinshaw cited his 11 years as Connolly’s chief of staff and his experience on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.
He targeted Whitson’s campaign strategy of running for Congress on a pro-President Donald Trump platform.
“He said recently he agrees with Trump on everything,” Walkinshaw said. “So the question before us in the 11th district is, do we want someone representing us who will fight for our community, our residents and our small businesses, or someone who views the job as being Trump’s ally,” he said.
Walkinshaw said the district needs someone who wants to stand up to the Department of Government Efficiency and rebuild a federal government that works for all.
“I will fight to make Northern Virginia and this country more affordable for all Americans with lower health care costs and lower prescription drug costs, making it more affordable to buy a home, send your kid to college, invest in clean, cheap renewable energy to bring down utility and electricity costs,” he said.
Republican Whitson pointed out that he was a political outsider and didn’t grow up in the world of politics.
“I wasn’t handed an office or handed a path to power. Instead, I was taught to work hard, and that God, family and country should come first.” Whitson said, focusing on his service in the U.S. Army and as a former FBI agent.
“I’m a fighter,” he said, adding, “I’ll fight for safer streets and communities. I’ll fight to restore excellence in education, empower parents and make sure our schools are learning ahead of politics.”
He also said he will fight to “protect our girls and keep boys out of their sports and boys out of their private spaces.”
“And I will fight to lower the cost of living to cut wasteful spending and bring fiscal sanity back to Washington,” he said. “At the end of the day, this is what our campaign is about.”
Q&A
Some of the forum’s questions have been paraphrased below along with the candidates’ replies.
Q: Discuss the issue of DOGE and the elimination of thousands of federal jobs during the Trump administration.
Whitson:
“I know that 99% of the federal employees that serve our country are great, wonderful, hardworking Americans who love our country and literally devote their life to making it better. I also know that when a federal employee loses their job, it’s not just that person, it’s their family that’s losing their job.
I want to help you. If you’re someone that was in the government and you felt like you were pushed out, and you’re a good employee, and you want to come back in, I want to do everything in my power to help find you a home back in the federal government.
But you know what else I want to do that’s even more important? I want to find you other economic opportunities.”
Walkinshaw:
“Well, Stewart, if you want to help the federal employees who have lost their jobs, or those thousands who are about to lose their jobs, you can stop advocating to make DOGE permanent, and you could commit to cosponsoring legislation like the Delete DOGE act, as I have to put an end to this chaos for our friends and neighbors.
Our friends and neighbors are being recklessly fired, and it’s not the low performers. There’s no distinction being made between high and low performers by DOGE and the Trump administration. They are indiscriminately firing the very people you say you have sympathy for. But you won’t do that because your priority is to be Donald Trump’s ally.”
Q: Discuss the issue of Social Security.
Whitson:
“The best way to keep Social Security solid is to promote work over welfare. And right now we have millions of able-bodied adults, who are not disabled, and I’m talking about senior citizens, not pregnant women, not children in poverty. I’m saying able-bodied adults that are sitting on the sideline and not engaging in the workforce.
Here’s the deal, work is actually good. Work is about so much more than just putting money in your pocket. And so when people are denied that you’re taking something away from them that hurts them far more than economically, you’re hurting them and you’re hurting their kids.
And so the reckless policies of the left is they’re pushing welfare onto people that don’t need it. And at the same time, they’re putting these programs at risk for the truly vulnerable that they’re designed for.”
Walkinshaw:
“I recommend you talk to some of the thousands of federal employees who are out of work and ask them if they’re sitting on the sidelines or playing video games. That is an outrageous thing to say in a community that is suffering from job loss right now.
Social Security solvency is a challenging problem, but it’s a math problem right now, the tax on Social Security is capped, and a billionaire pays the exact same dollar amount as a two-income family living right here in Fairfax County.
We all know that the hardest working folks in our community are immigrants, and the best way to ensure the solvency of Social Security is to welcome immigrants who want to come here and work and are younger than the average American population to pay into Social Security.
Rounding them up, scaring them, convincing them to self deport is self-defeating when it comes to the solvency of Social Security.”
Q: Share your thoughts on the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Walkinshaw:
“This issue is another broken promise from Donald Trump. He promised he would lower prices, and prices are going up. He promised world peace, and we’re not seeing world peace in Gaza or elsewhere. And this is a very significant challenge.
And let me just say right now, the images coming from Gaza today are unacceptable. The humanitarian crisis is absolutely unacceptable. Unacceptable.
We need a cease fire in Gaza yesterday, and Donald Trump needs to bring the parties back to the negotiating table and negotiate a cease fire that brings all of the hostages home to their families, ends the violence and surges humanitarian aid into Gaza that reaches the people and the children.”
Whitson:
“The most tragic part of Oct. 7 and Ukraine War is that they were both avoidable. Weakness invites aggression. During the Biden administration, we had a weak president, and people around the world took advantage of that.
It is unacceptable, but it all could have been avoided with a stronger commander in chief, period. If you think Hamas did that attack without Iran’s consent, you’re wrong. And they never would have done that if Trump would have been in office. We have to confront this with truth.
But yes, that is one point we agree on — I do think that devastation needs to stop, and I do want peace in the Middle East, and I think our president is doing as much as he can to achieve that.”
Q: Would you support the John Lewis Voting Rights Act?
Whitson:
“When it comes to election integrity, the key is we need elections that we trust. So, when we get to the end of the election, we need to wake up the day after the election, and no matter who won or didn’t win, we have to trust the outcome, right?
You’re required to show a photo ID when you buy alcohol. You’re required to show a photo ID when you get on an airplane. And so the idea that you wouldn’t show a photo ID when you vote is just ridiculous. And guess what? Eighty percent of Americans agree.”
Walkinshaw:
“Yes, I will support the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. And look, the diminution of the authorities of the Voting Rights Act has been one of the worst decisions made in the last 10 years with respect to voting rights.
We have real challenges across the country where people’s voting rights are being circumscribed and attacked. I think the most significant one right now is an outrageous effort in Texas to rig the game in the midterm elections and do midterm redistricting, and President Trump has been very open and honest about it. He wants to do it because he thinks he can get five more seats.
I don’t think that’s how our district should be drawn. We need to protect everyone’s right to vote, and we need to ensure that folks have the opportunity to vote in fair districts in this country.”
Q: What would the first piece of legislation you would initiate if elected?
Whitson:
“The first piece would be the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act, which I said would require congressional preapproval before the executive branch if spending $100 million or more on a new rule or regulation.”
Walkinshaw:
“I will introduce legislation to defund DOGE and legislation to restore the civil service protections that federal workers need. We have a 100-plus year history in this nation of a nonpartisan civil service that has served us very well.”
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
© 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
