Two U.S. Army veterans, Derrick Anderson on the right and Eugene Vindman on the left, squared off over the future of Virginia’s 7th Congressional District Wednesday night.
Vindman’s biggest claim to fame may be his twin brother, Alexander, who helped spark the first impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump. Anderson is a Spotsylvania native who worked in President Trump’s administration. Both left the U.S. military to enter the legal field, and both are hoping to take outgoing Democratic congresswoman Abigail Spanberger’s seat in Washington.
Recent headlines around Anderson’s use of a friend's family in a campaign photo provided one of the most notable exchanges of the night after Vindman questioned his opponent’s authenticity.
“If you are going to lie about something as fundamental, portray yourself as a family man so people like you, how can you be trusted on more serious topics,” Vindman said.
But Anderson pushed back, saying his mom and his fiancé were in the audience at the debate hosted by the University of Mary Washington.
“What he’s talking about is unbelievable. He talks about focusing on a picture that I took with supporters in the district?” Anderson asked. “Why is he talking about that, you talk about distracting from the issues, good grief folks, you can’t have anything that’s more distracting about the issues.”
Vindman also hit Anderson as a supporter of Project 2025 and as someone who would not vote to restore abortion rights like he would. But Anderson said the issue was returned to the states.
“I’ll be very clear, I do not want to re-federalize this issue so I will not support a national ban on abortion,” Anderson said.
Vindman, meanwhile, said his number one reason for running was the death of Roe v. Wade.
“My sister-in-law had a series of ectopic pregnancies. You know what the treatment for that is? It would be considered an abortion,” Vindman said. “There are women dying around the country because they don’t have access to this important right.”
Anderson said the reason Vindman is so focused on the procedure is because he can’t defend the last 4 years of Biden’s presidency.
“He can’t talk about the economy. He can’t talk about the Border. He can’t talk about anything else,” Anderson said. “But I want to be clear, my opponent would be one of the most radical far left people in Congress Virginia has ever seen.”
The two also sparred over the economy, namely grocery prices.
“We want to keep taxes low, make sure we stop the overspending the U.S. government continues to do, and we’ve got to get U.S. energy up and running,” Anderson said.
But Vindman blamed corporate greed.
“There are two supermarket chains in Prince William County that control 40 percent of the market,” Vindman said. “That is too much consolidation and frankly it verges on a monopoly.”
Notably Virginia’s 7th District was heavily impacted by redistricting. The once ruby red seat flipped under Trump. While the redraw in 2021 changed its boundaries dramatically, Spanberger won by nearly 5 points a year later. Virginians will decide if it stays that way on November 5th.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.