A Tuesday report revealed an influential conservative political fund has spent $2.3 million to flip Virginia’s 7th Congressional District in November. Republicans are trying to help Derrick Anderson secure a victory against Eugene Vindman, who featured prominently in the first impeachment of former President Donald Trump.
Anderson will benefit from $2.3 million in spending from the Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF), which exists to elect Republicans to the U.S. House, according to a Tuesday report by Punchbowl News.
The outlet reported that CLF reserved $16 million in ad space before the November elections. Virginia received the second-highest share next to Pennsylvania, which received $3.8 million to oust Representative Susan Wild (D-PA-07) in Philadelphia.
Anderson is not the only Virginia Republican to receive support from the CFL. The group reportedly spent an additional $682,200 to defend Representative Jen Kiggans (R-VA-02) as she seeks reelection against Missy Cotter Smasal.
CFL will reportedly spend smaller amounts to support Republicans running against Democratic incumbents in Michigan, Ohio, New York, Iowa, Nebraska, and Colorado.
Anderson and Vindman are competing for the seat being vacated by Representative Abigail Spanberger (D-VA-07), who announced she would leave Congress in January to focus on her campaign to become Virginia’s next governor.
According to the Anderson campaign, Vindman has yet to respond to the Republican challenge to six debates. The Republican made the announcement after the Democrat was accused of violating federal election law when answering questions about his military service.
It's been 1 week since I challenged my opponent, Yevgeny Vindman, to 6 debates/forums. He has yet to accept…he's declined the only televised debate & won't accept Culpeper NAACP.
The people of #VA07 deserve to hear directly from the candidates, not just ads & social media. https://t.co/VvudKqTGsp
— Derrick Anderson (@DerrickforVA) September 3, 2024
Vindman overheard the phone call between Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart, President Volodymyr Zelensky, and then reported the information to his twin brother, Alexander Vindman. The phone call ultimately prompted the Democrats’ first impeachment effort against the former president.
After gaining national recognition due to his role in the impeachment, The Daily Mail reported in 2019 that Vindman had no combat experience during his time in the U.S. Armed Forces. However, Vindman has since claimed while campaigning that he served his country in combat.
When The Washington Free Beacon asked the Vindman campaign to clarify the apparent discrepancy, the campaign reportedly deferred to a third-party organization called VoteVets. The organization has spent more than $400,000 supporting Vindman’s campaign and claimed the organization would offer a statement on behalf of the candidate.
This prompted a Federal Election Commission (FEC) complaint from the Functional Government Initiative (FGI), which expressed concern that the group is “effectively serving as a staffing service for Vindman for Congress by paying staffers to perform core campaign functions” and providing its services as an in-kind contribution that violates federal spending limits.
An August poll reportedly found the race statistically tied, with 42 percent of voters planning to vote for Vindman and 41 percent of voters preferring Anderson in a survey with a 4.9 percent margin of error.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Derrick Anderson” by Derrick Anderson. Photo “Eugene Vindman” by Eugene Vindman.
