Democratic primary set for Virginia Del. Srinivasan’s Loudoun-based seat

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RICHMOND – Five Democrats will compete in a firehouse primary Saturday (Nov. 23) for a Loudoun County state House seat, which Del. Kannan Srinivasan (D) resigned after winning his party’s nomination last week for an open state Senate seat.

Saturday’s election is part of a flurry of nominating contests set in motion on Nov. 5, when state Sen. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Loudoun) won election in the 10th Congressional District to succeed Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D), who did not seek reelection because of health reasons.

Republicans and Democrats held firehouse primaries Nov. 16 for the Senate seat Subramanyam is vacating. Democrats nominated Srinivasan in the 32nd Senate District, while Republicans picked Tumay Harding, a former teacher and vocal critic of the Northern Virginia county’s school system.

Srinivasan is heavily favored in a Senate district that the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project rates as “Strong Democratic,” although special elections can be unpredictable, low-turnout affairs and the stakes are high. Democrats, who have a 21-19 margin in the state Senate, would lose effective control of the chamber if Harding wins since a Republican, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, has the power to break most tie votes.

The special election takes place Jan. 7.

Srinivasan has already resigned from the House, effective Jan. 7, a move that allows the House special election totake place alongside the Senate contest that day – and likely paves the way for filling both seats in time for the start of the General Assembly session on Jan. 8. The 26th House District seat is also rated “Strong Democratic” by VPAP.

Republicans held a mass meeting Monday, Nov. 21, to choose their House nominee: Ram Venkatachalam, who ran unsuccessfully last year for the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors.

Democrats opted for a firehouse primary, which also known as an “unassembled caucus,” in which voters cast their ballots and leave; they do not have to stay for multiple rounds of voting, as is required with a traditional caucus.

Vying for the Democratic nomination are:

– LaKesha Gorham-McDurfee, founder and chief executive of Grandmommy’s Heart, a senior home health services business. She has a bachelor’s degree in public administration from Virginia State University.

– Arben Istrefi, who was elected to the Loudoun School Board last year. The son of immigrants – his parents emigrated from the former Yugoslavia and Italy in their teens and met at English night classes – he graduated from Harvard Business School and has worked as an IT and management consultant.

– Sam Nandi, a chemical engineer with a master’s degree in computer science who works in the IT field. He has served as director of the Brambleton Community Association and as president of an elementary school PTA.

– Ibraheem Samirah, a Palestinian American dentist and former state delegate best known for interrupting then-President Donald Trump during a speech in Jamestown in 2019, at an event marking the 400th anniversary of the founding of representative democracy. Samirah was only the second Muslim elected to the House of Delegates, where he served from 2019 to 2022, losing reelection in a Democratic primary. On Saturday, he lost the firehouse primary for Subramanyam’s Senate seat. As he filed for the House race this week, he faced a challenge to his residency but ultimately was included on the ballot. Samirah’s campaign manager, Kamran Fareedi, called efforts to knock him off the ballot “frivolous” in an email to The Washington Post.

– JJ Singh, the son of Indian immigrants. He grew up in Northern Virginia, graduated from the University of Virginia and, according to his campaign biography, was the first turbaned Sikh to serve in the Peace Corps. He went on to work at the White House Office of Management and Budget during the Obama administration and then served as the economic policy adviser to Sen. Chris Coons (D-Delaware). He is president of Retreat Hotels and Resorts and serves on Loudoun’s Economic Development Advisory Commission.

Because Virginia does not register by party, the primary is open to any voters who live in the district and are willing to sign a written pledge saying that they consider themselves Democrats, believe in the party’s principles and do not plan to support any candidate opposed to the Democratic nominee in the Jan. 7 election.

Voting takes place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at three locations across the district. Unlike in state-run primaries, voters are not assigned a particular polling place and may cast their ballots at any of the three: Liberty Elementary School, 25491 Riding Center Dr., South Riding; Creighton’s Corner Elementary School, 23171 Minerva Dr., Ashburn; and Cardinal Ridge Elementary School, 26155 Bull Run Post Office Road, Centreville.