All seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are up for election every two years. There are 435 seats, representing each of the fifty states in rough proportion to their population as recorded in the most recent national census. There are an additional six non-voting delegate seats representing U.S. territories and the District of Columbia.
The Democratic Party currently holds a 232-198 majority over the Republican Party in the House. One seat is held by a Libertarian (who was originally elected as a Republican) and four seats are vacant. Virginia has eleven seats in the House, with seven held by Democrats and four held by Republicans.
Tenth District
In the race to represent Virginia’s Tenth District in the United States House of Representatives, incumbent Representative Jennifer Wexton (D-VA 10th) is seeking reelection and is challenged by Aliscia Andrews (R).
The Tenth District encompasses Clarke County, Frederick County, Loudoun County, the cities of Manassas and Winchester, and parts of Fairfax and Prince William counties.
Incumbent: Jennifer Wexton (D)
Incumbent Representative Jennifer Wexton (D-VA 10th) stands as the Democratic Party nominee to represent Virginia’s tenth district in the United States House of Representatives. She is nearing the end of her first term.
Wexton is a graduate of the University of Maryland and holds a law degree from the College of William & Mary School of Law. From 2001 to 2005 she served as an Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney in Loudoun County, Virginia, after which she entered private legal practice. She was also selected to serve as a substitute judge in Loudoun County in 2010.
In 2011 she campaigned unsuccessfully to unseat Loudoun County Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Plowman (R). After then-Virginia Senator Mark Herring (D-VA 33rd) was elected Attorney General of Virginia in 2013, Wexton stood in a special election to take his former seat. She won easily, completing the last two years of Herring’s term and then winning reelection in the 2015 general election. She was elected to the House from the Tenth District in 2018.
In the House of Representatives, as before in the Virginia Senate, Wexton says she has worked to “make health care more affordable for our families, keep our kids safe from gun violence, and . . . protect the interests of federal workers and contractors in our region.” But this only means she has continued to vote for practically every Democratic Party bill that has come before the House, whether it makes sense or not. All my concerns about Wexton from two years ago remain.
Wexton claims to be serious about crime reduction but opposes efforts to crack down on illegal immigration and the property and gang-related crimes that come with it. She opposes common-sense efforts to assure the integrity of the ballot. She supports restrictive anti-gun measures, including ineffective “assault weapon” bans, that would needlessly restrict innocent citizens and limit their ability to defend themselves. Like most others in the modern Democratic party, she vehemently denies the right to life—the most fundamental human right, and the one upon which all others are predicated.
These positions in opposition to basic human rights are disqualifiers in-and-of themselves, but Wexton has also supported poor economic policies, poor education policies, poor environmental policies, and various nonsensical kinds of ‘identity politics.’ But she, like many of her colleagues, has been too busy haranguing the president, proposing absurdities, and tacitly encouraging race riots to get much real legislation done anyway.
Aliscia Andrews (R)
Aliscia Andrews (R) stands as the Republican Party nominee to challenge incumbent Representative Jennifer Wexton (D-VA 10th).
Andrews is a United States Marine Corps veteran who holds an MBA from Georgetown University. She serves in numerous volunteer roles for “the Loudoun County Criminal Justice Board, PTOs, disadvantaged children’s groups, church ministries, youth sports leagues, and mentoring transitioning Veterans.” If elected, this would be Andrews’s first time holding elected office.
During her time in the Marines, Andrews’s unit was deployed to provide humanitarian assistance in Haiti. Later deployments took her unit to Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Since leaving the Marines, she has worked as a government contractor on projects both within and outside of the intelligence community.
Andrews’s website gives us only a thin set of policy positions. Since she has not yet held elective office, we have no voting record to fill in the gaps. She does, however, clearly state her position on two key human rights issues: She acknowledges the right of every human being to live, and the right to keep and bear arms for purposes of defense. This alone places her in a much higher class than her opponent, who obstinately denies both of these rights.
On other issues Andrews appears to be a doctrinaire Republican. She advocates pro-business and pro-growth economic policies and strong national security. She supports efforts to reform our immigration system and secure our borders. And she clearly condemns the lawless violence happening in many of our major cities—violence that is at least tacitly supported by her opponent.
I would like to see much deeper policy statements on all these issues, and on many others. Wexton’s website has a lot more detail about a lot more topics . . . even if she is wrong about almost all of them. No candidate should assume that people will vote for them because of their party appellation or because they tick a few key boxes. Each should earn our votes with detailed policy positions. But I guess when your opponent is as wrong as Wexton is about so many things, it doesn’t take much to be a better option.
Conclusion
The Tenth District has been poorly served by Representative Jennifer Wexton (D-VA 10th). Her extreme left-wing policies are far out of step with our relatively centrist district and, worse, her active opposition to fundamental human rights puts her out of step with the universal values of liberty and justice. Her wrongheaded positions on economics, immigration, crime, and civil unrest and violence just add to the reasons not to vote for her.
Aliscia Andrews (R) is not a perfect candidate. Her position statements cover too few topics, and those she does cover she does not cover in enough depth. But she acknowledges and understands the key human rights that are under the greatest threat today. And she is on the right side of the few other topics she covers. Anyway, it would be very difficult to be any worse than Wexton.
I strongly endorse the election of Aliscia Andrews to represent Virginia’s Tenth District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Other Recommendations
U.S. House of Representatives
I make the following recommendations for contested House of Representative races in Virginia’s other districts. I have evaluated each race and candidate individually according to the same general criteria described in the endorsement article above.
- First District: Incumbent Representative Rob Wittman (R-VA 1st) is challenged by Qasim Rashid (D). I recommend voting for Rob Wittman.
- Second District: Incumbent Representative Elaine Luria (D-VA 2nd) is challenged by former Representative Scott Taylor (R-VA 1st). I recommend voting for Scott Taylor.
- Third District: Incumbent Representative Bobby Scott (D-VA 3rd) is challenged by John Collick (R). I recommend voting for John Collick.
- Fourth District: Incumbent Representative Donald McEachin (D-VA 4th) is challenged by Leon Benjamin (R). I recommend voting for Leon Benjamin.
- Fifth District: Former Campbell County Supervisor Bob Good (R-Sunburst) and Doctor Cameron Webb (D) stand as the fifth district candidates. I recommend voting for Bob Good.
- Sixth District: Incumbent Representative Ben Cline (R-VA 6th) is challenged by Nicholas Betts (D). I recommend voting for Ben Cline.
- Seventh District: Incumbent Representative Abigail Spanberger (D-VA 7th) is challenged by Delegate Nick Freitas (R-VA 30th). I recommend voting for Nick Freitas.
- Eighth District: Incumbent Representative Don Beyer (D-VA 7th) is challenged by Jeff Jordan (R). I recommend voting for Jeff Jordan.
- Ninth District: Incumbent Representative Morgan Griffith (R-VA 9th) is running for reelection uncontested.
- Tenth District: See full-form endorsement above.
- Eleventh District: Incumbent Representative Gerry Connolly (D-VA 11th) is challenged by Manga Anantatmula (R). I recommend voting for Manga Anantatmula.
Virginia House of Delegates
Former Delegate Chris Collins (R-VA 29th) resigned his seat following his appointment to serve as a district judge for the 26th Judicial District Court of Virginia. The seat will be filled in a special election.
- Twenty-Ninth District: Irina Khanin (D) and Winchester City Council Member Bill Wiley (R-1st) stand as the twenty-ninth district candidates. I recommend voting for Bill Wiley.