Alexandria’s Rep. Don Beyer handily won his party’s nomination Tuesday night to run for his seventh term representing Virginia’s 8th Congressional District, and retired Army Maj. Gen. Bert Mizusawa won the Republican nomination to run against U.S. Sen. Mark Warner in the Nov. 3 general election.
Rep. Don Beyer has earned the Democratic nomination for the 8th Congressional District in Tuesday’s primary election.
The congressman, who is seeking his seventh term, defeated four challengers — former Alexandria City Council Member Mo Seifeldein, fired State Department worker Michael Duffin, veteran and former CIA officer Adam Dunigan and military family advocate Lorena Bruner. The Associated Press called the race at 7:34 p.m. after polls closed.
With just hours left until polls close, participation in the Democratic primary for Virginia’s 8th Congressional district is far outpacing turnout in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate.
As of 4 p.m., 10,772 ballots were cast citywide in the five-candidate Democratic primary, about 10.7% of the city’s 99,811 registered voters, according to figures released by the city’s general registrar. The numbers include 6,346 early and mail-in ballots, leaving the total number of in-person votes cast at just 4,426.
Alexandria voters are headed to the polls Tuesday (Aug. 4) to cast their votes in Democratic and Republican primaries, which will determine nominees for the 2026 midterms.
Polls will be open between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. Tuesday. Voters are not registered by party in Virginia, so they can choose to vote in either the Democratic or Republican primary. As of Aug. 1, Alexandria has over 117,000 registered voters.
Early voters participating in the Democratic primary are far outnumbering those in the Republican primary, according to data from the Alexandria Office of Voter Registration and Elections.
Thousands of votes have been cast in about a month of early voting for the Aug. 4 primary elections.
A former Alexandria City Council member used a candidate forum to rip into Rep. Don Beyer (D-8th) as the Democratic congressional primary draws closer and heats up.
At the Arlington County Democratic Committee’s candidate forum on July 1, Mo Seifeldein went after Beyer on campaign finances and banking reform. Seifeldein also said the incumbent “hasn’t pushed back” on the Trump administration or Republicans in Congress.
Candidates for the 8th Congressional District will gather in Alexandria for a candidate forum next week.
Shiloh Baptist Church and the NAACP Alexandria Branch will host the candidate forum at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 9 in the Shiloh Baptist Church Worship Center (1401 Jamieson Avenue). Doors will open at 6:30 p.m.
With the November midterm elections just four months away, Northern Virginia Rep. Don Beyer (D-8) is considering the implications of a Democratic takeover of the House of Representatives.
In his office at the Longworth House Office Building, Beyer told ALXnow in an interview that President Donald Trump deserves to be impeached a third time, but not as a messaging exercise that will result in an acquittal from a divided Senate. He also said that no matter the outcome of the November midterms that the country will still have two years left of an administration that operates under the unitary executive theory of the presidency.
Michael Duffin, a fired State Department worker from Alexandria who is running for Congress, appeared on “The Daily Show” Tuesday to discuss federal workforce reductions by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Duffin, who lives in the West End with his wife and two children, was one of more than 1,300 federal workers fired by the State Department in July 2025. The Democrat running in the 8th Congressional District joined Maryland congressional candidates Alexis Goldstein and Tracy Starr and New York candidate Alissa Ellman in “The Daily Show” segment on fired federal workers’ campaigns.
Early voting is set to begin Thursday, June 18 for 2026 congressional primary elections in Alexandria, according to the city’s Office of Voter Registration and Elections.
The elections on Aug. 4 will include a Democratic primary for U.S. House of Representatives in the 8th Congressional District and a Republican primary to decide who will run against Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) for U.S. Senate. Virginia voters are not registered by party, so they can vote in either the Democratic or Republican primary.
Numerous Alexandria elected officials have thrown their support behind Rep. Don Beyer (D-8) in his reelection bid, his campaign announced Monday (May 18).
The endorsements include Alexandria Mayor Alyia Gaskins; Vice Mayor Sarah Bagley; City Council Members Canek Aguirre, John Chapman, Jacinta Greene, and Sandy Marks; Commonwealth’s Attorney Bryan Porter; Clerk of Court Greg Parks; Sheriff Sean Casey; School Board Chair Michelle Rief; School Board Vice Chair Christopher Harris; and School Board Members Abdulahi Abdalla, Tim Beaty, Kelly Carmichael Booz, Alexander Crider Scioscia, Donna Kenley, Ashley Simpson Baird, and Ryan Reyna. Former Mayors Bill Euille, Allison Silberberg and Justin Wilson also endorsed Beyer.
