Vindman sought to energize his base and draw a contrast with his Republican opponent, Derek Anderson, in the closely watched race for Virginia’s 7th Congressional District, which includes Fredericksburg, Stafford, and Woodbridge. With only 84 days until Election Day, Vindman emphasized the stakes of the upcoming election, framing it as a critical moment for the nation and the community.

In his speech, the retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel invoked his personal story as an immigrant who arrived in the U.S. with his family, possessing little more than the hope of achieving the American dream. “The stakes in this election couldn’t be higher,” Vindman said, underscoring his belief that the very essence of that dream is on the line. He criticized the rhetoric coming from the Republican Party, likening it to what one might hear in authoritarian regimes such as North Korea, Iran, or Russia. Vindman argued that such narratives undermine the fundamental values that make the United States great.

Vindman’s message was tailored to national issues and specific concerns in the 7th District, including Northern Virginia communities such as Woodbridge and Dale City. “When I had the opportunity to retire, I chose to retire here in Northern Virginia,” Vindman said, describing his newfound connection to the area where he and his wife, Cindy, chose to live after he left the military in 2022.

Vindman’s brother, Retired Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, made headlines for his testimony during the 2019 impeachment hearings of President Donald Trump after he reported concerns about President Trump’s dealings with Ukraine after hearing Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy while serving on the National Security Council.

Eugene Vindman addressed challenges related to Interstate 95, a major transportation artery in the region. He called for improvements to make it multimodal and accept trains and buses to shuttle commuters to Washington, D.C. He also spoke about the importance of maintaining high-quality schools for his family and all families in the district. 

The topic of education led Vindman to denounce efforts by some in the district to ban and even burn books, specifically mentioning Stafford County School district banning several gender-bending books some parents decried as pornographic: “They want to cover up our history, and that’s just plain unacceptable,” Vindman declared.

A Vindman media relations manager denied a request to make Vindman available for press questions at this event. 

Vindman’s speech also touched on Project 2025, an initiative championed by the non-profit Heritage Foundation that he described as a “significant threat to the social safety net.” Vindman erroneously tied Project 2025 with Republican candidates and his opponent instead of the non-profit think tank that authored it.

Vindman emphasized the potential economic impact of eliminating 50,000 civil service jobs. “Can you imagine those high-paying civil service jobs being eliminated or moved out? What would that do to this economy? How would that devastate this economy?” Vindman asked rhetorically to the group.

Despite Vindman’s assertions, Anderson has not backed Project 2025. In a statement to the Washington Post, Anderson said that he does “not support any initiatives that will hurt national security.” An Anderson campaign spokesman said, “This is not something our campaign has ever talked about. Derrick Anderson has been clear that he always places the needs of the country over party, anything that will negatively affect families in VA-07 won’t be supported, and he encourages voters to fact check [Vindman’s] claims.”

Throughout his speech, Vindman attempted to draw a line between him and Anderson, an Army Green Beret, whom he accused of being “bought and paid for by MAGA.” Anderson is a decorated Army Green Beret with six overseas deployments across Iraq, Afghanistan, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, and Bahrain.

Vindman pointed to the difference in campaign donations as evidence of their differing loyalties, noting that his average donation is just $27, while Anderson’s financial support comes from “Ultra MAGA” sources. Vindman argued that Anderson would vote in line with those interests if elected, to the detriment of the district and the nation.

Vindman did not mention the ongoing controversy of purported unauthorized small-dollar donations linked to the Democrat fundraising platform ActBlue. These so-called small-dollar donations appear as grass-roots support, but many donors claim to have never authorized those donations. 

According to the Federal Elections Commission (FEC), Barbara Staples, a Springhill, Texas retiree, purportedly made 53 small-dollar donations to ActBlue in a single day and 1,600 other donation transactions since 2022. The FEC website shows five small-dollar contributions on June 16, 2024. When asked, Staples said she hadn’t made any donations. 

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyaras announced an investigation into these allegedly fraudulent donations by ActBlue earlier this month, joining a list of state Attorneys General investigating the organization for potential laundering of illegal foreign campaign donations.

The National Republican Congressional Committee spokeswoman Delanie Bowmar doubled down on the accusations against ActBlue donations and Vindman’s assertions of small-dollar donations, “Vindman’s campaign war chest doubles as a piggy bank for anti-Israel extremists: campaign donations go in, anti-Israel policies spew out. We know Vindman will kowtow to extremists who burn down college campuses – just check the receipts.” 

Early voting in Virginia begins September 20, 2024. The final day for in-person precinct voting is November 5, 2024. For more information on voting, elections.virginia.gov.

The fair, held annually since 1949, except 2020, was born from a dairy show started by returning World War II veterans—the fair runs through August 17 at the Prince William County Fairgrounds, just outside Manassas.

We’re excited to launch “Local Lens,” a new feature where your photos and stories take center stage. Whether it’s a stunning sunset, a community event, or just a moment that made you smile, we want to see and share it!

Please send us your snapshots and comments via text at 571-989-1695 or email them to [email protected]. Your perspective makes our community unique; “Local Lens” is your space to showcase it.

The fair, held annually since 1949, except 2020, was born from a dairy show started by returning World War II veterans—the fair runs through August 17 at the Prince William County Fairgrounds, just outside Manassas.

We’re excited to launch “Local Lens,” a new feature where your photos and stories take center stage. Whether it’s a stunning sunset, a community event, or just a moment that made you smile, we want to see and share it!

Please send us your snapshots and comments via text at 571-989-1695 or email them to [email protected]. Your perspective makes our community unique; “Local Lens” is your space to showcase it.

“Hamas is coming” was scrawled in red across the face of the Columbus Monument at Union Station, alongside slogans, such as “free Gaza” and “all Zionists are bastards.” The riots coincided with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress.

Anderson described the flag burning as a personal affront. “As someone who’s a former Green Beret who spent over 10 years in the U.S. Army, someone who did over 150 funerals in Arlington National Cemetery where I laid that flag on our service members before their family members saw them laid to rest, it hit hard to me, it hit incredibly hard,” he said. He recounted his experiences in Afghanistan, including the loss of five of his own soldiers and returning home with their flag-draped coffins for their last fight home. Anderson emphasized that the desecration of the flag at Union Station symbolized a broader disunity within the country.

Anderson criticized his opponent Eugene Vindman for remaining silent in the wake of the riots, calling for greater transparency and action from political leaders. “My opponent has been silent until a few minutes ago, but that’s a day late and a dollar short. It’s time for leaders to act and say what they mean. Transparency is important, and the folks here in the 7th Congressional District deserve transparency, they don’t need a politician that waits to see where the political headwinds blow before standing up for something” he asserted.

Vindman posted to his X account one minute before Anderson began his scheduled press conference, writing, “Violence and destruction are not peaceful protests; it’s not about left or right, it’s about right and wrong. And it was wrong when rioters stormed the Capitol on January 6, and it’s wrong when anti-Israel protesters assaulted police officers and spray-painted Hamas slogans on Washington, DC monuments. I ask my opponent to join me in calling out all forms of violence immediately.”

Violence and destruction are not peaceful protests; it’s not about left or right, it’s about right and wrong.

And it was wrong when rioters stormed the Capitol on January 6 and it’s wrong when anti-Israel protesters assault police officers and spray paint Hamas slogans on… https://t.co/LRYdVMDXQc

— Eugene Vindman (@YVindman) July 25, 2024

Condemnation of Pro-Hamas Support
The candidate also highlighted the role of foreign influence in the protests, referencing reports that Iran had been funding some of these demonstrations. “Our enemies are watching—Iran, China, Russia. In fact, we just saw reports that Iran has been funding some of these protests that are happening in Washington, D.C. and continue to happen,” he said.

Congressman Rob Wittman’s Support
Congressman Rob Wittman (R), who represented part of Prince Willliam County until redistricting in 2021, who joined Anderson at the press conference, echoed his sentiments. Wittman condemned the burning of the U.S. flag and the display of pro-Hamas and Palestinian flags, describing these actions as disrespectful and un-American. “It was disrespectful. It was disloyal to who we are as a nation. Those things can’t be allowed to occur without speaking out against those efforts,” Wittman stated.

Wittman’s district’s boundaries shifted out of Northern Virginia and further southeast, toward Virginia’s Northern Neck and Williamsburg.

Accountability and Prosecution
When asked about the potential for prosecutions following the riots, Anderson noted the lack of specific laws against flag desecration but highlighted other illegal activities, such as graffiti and assaults on law enforcement. He emphasized the need for accountability and consequences for breaking the law.
Call for Unity

Anderson emphasized the need for national unity and common sense throughout his remarks. He called on the residents of the 7th Congressional District to demand transparency and accountability from their leaders and to work towards a more united country. “We see hope. We see a future for our country. But it takes all of us coming together and being unified,” Anderson concluded.

Anderson faces Vindman in the November 5 General Election. Early voting for that election begins on September 20, 2024, at local voter registrar’s offices. Some of the jurisdictions included in the district include eastern Prince William County, Stafford, Spotsylvania, Caroline, King George countries, and Fredericksburg city.

In Prince William County, a catch-and-release style revolving justice system keeps more criminals on the street in the name of fairness.

A shooting at Manassas Mall on July 9, 2024, left two people injured, including one of five suspects in the case, underscores a more significant problem with the justice system in a much more progressive Prince William County.

At odds are those who want to reform the judicial process to make it more fair for criminals and those who wish to prosecute crime to get them off the streets for a determinate period. Caught in the middle are county residents.

Revolving Justice System and Its Implications

In a July 10 letter to her constituents, Coles District Supervisor Yesli Vega, whose district borders the Manassas mall, highlighted two cases where individuals previously accused of felony offenses were released from custody and re-offended. In the mall shooting, she highlighted that 18-year-old Daevon Russell, one of the individuals involved in the gun battle that left a shooter and a bystander wounded, had been previously arrested after an August 2023 shooting for reckless handling of a gun causing permanent bodily severe injury, a felony.

Court records show Russell went to a classmate’s house and shot the cousin of the classmate, who was also inside the home, without provocation. Russell ran from the home, leaving the victim there to bleed. The victim went into cardiac arrest several times on the life flight to Inova Fairfax Hospital, where doctors were able to stop the bleeding and save his life.

Controversial Decisions and Judicial Diversion

When the case went to court, Judge Petula C. Metzer, on a recommendation from county Commonwealth Attorney Amy Ashworth, released Russell with nothing more than a promise to appear and the stipulations that he “not consume intoxicants and have no contact with the victim.” Ashworth claimed her office argued for no bond at a previous hearing, but she could not produce the bond document to prove her claim.

There was no stipulation in Metzler’s order to not possess or carry a firearm. Russell is now accused of going to the mall armed and getting into an altercation in the food court that escalated to shots fired between the two groups.

In a separate case in her letter, Vega highlighted Arial Moya Claros, who has 11 previous charges involving alcohol and family violence over the last two years, before his arrest on July 7, 2024, for felony abduction by force and misdemeanor domestic violence assault and a second driving while intoxicated (DWI) charge.

Six months earlier, in a January 2024 case, Claros’ landlord sought a restraining order against him after the landlord claimed Claros “took the eviction process personal” and claimed Moya Claros was caught on camera attempting to damage the landlord’s vehicles. A verbal confrontation ensued, and the police responded. The landlord also claimed in his petition for a restraining order that Claros followed his pre-teen daughter home, and she had to hide and call her parents because she was scared.

Claros’ case was adjudicated in a family court diversion program in the two earlier domestic violence instances. Had he been convicted in either of the other domestic violence cases, he would be facing a Class Six felony charge for the Domestic Violence assault, which carries a penalty of up to 20 years in jail.

Now, he faces only a misdemeanor assault charge because there were no convictions in the earlier cases, for which carries a much lighter potential sentence. Despite his history of violence and the escalation of violence with this same victim, Claros was released within hours of his arrest on a simple promise to appear.

Commonwealth Attorney Amy Ashworth points to Virginia law that judges only consider convictions, not pre-trial adjudications, when making bail decisions. This requirement by the code to only consider convictions and Ashworth’s focus on diversionary programs sidesteps the more intense consequences convictions provide for re-offenders.

Citing a long-standing prohibition on making statements about open cases, Ashworth said that her office “takes domestic violence cases very seriously and would never agree to a bond if [her office] believed the accused was a danger to anyone or there was a risk the accused [would abscond].” She also said that her office makes good faith recommendations to the judges regarding bail and diversion, but “the Judges unfortunately do not issue reasons for the decisions that they make.”

Diversion Programs vs. Public Safety

Diversion is a broad term referring to alternatives to prosecution that minimize an offender’s exposure to the criminal system by offering an alternative to prosecution and incarceration. These programs bank on an offender’s desire to stay out of jail, to get them on a path to not re-offend.

Diversion programs can help first-time offenders, but experts warn that overusing them for repeat offenders could weaken domestic violence prosecutions. This overuse might unintentionally support the ongoing cycle of violence that victims experience.

Elisa Castillo, director of domestic violence services at Action in Community Through Service (ACTS) in Prince William County, said, “Diversion programs have their place, but some people, for whatever reason, don’t take the chances they are given seriously and jail has to be part of the equation.”

With Ashworth’s election in 2019, county prosecutors shifted focus from a reputation of being tough on crime to a more diversionary justice system that incarcerates fewer criminals and focuses prosecutorial efforts on programs to rehabilitate criminals before they go to jail. The result is a record-low incarceration population in the county lockup and a heavier workload on the probation office.

Prince William County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Terry Fearnley said the jail population hovers around 540 and represents only the worst of the worst offenders. That number is about half of the jail’s average under former county prosecutor Paul Ebert, who retired after 50 years. Under Ebert, the jail averaged 1,000 inmates.

The jail population is not a bellwether of a healthy justice system but can indicate problems. According to Steve Austin, the county’s director of criminal justice services, referrals from the courts to his pretrial release program have risen nearly 19% during Ashworth’s tenure. Yet, recidivism rates, or the number of accused who commit additional crimes, in his programs have increased by two percentage points in the same period.

Ashworth has said that she does not maintain recidivism statistics, so we are unable to compare how many times people not involved in pre-trial supervision re-offend on her watch. In a statement to Potomac Local, Austin said he could not pinpoint why the recidivism rate in his program has increased despite increased staffing and budgeting.

Community Impact and Political Reactions

Supervisor Vega, reserve Prince William sheriff’s deputy, has been critical of Ashworth’s soft-on-crime policies for some time. She highlighted the two cases because they are “but two examples of the catch and release justice system she sees under Ashworth’s watch.” Vega said she has a unique vantage point of the justice system, previously as a patrol cop and now in her reserve capacity working in the courthouse. “I hear complaints from law enforcement officers telling me that they are dismayed how quickly people they arrest for serious crimes are back on the streets within hours of their arrest and back re-offending, and I hear from constituents that are worried about how unsafe our community has become.

Ashworth is a founding member of the Virginia Progressive Prosecutors for Justice (VPPJ), a left-leaning political activist group. VPPJ has been a leading proponent of justice reforms in Virginia that make crime less detrimental for criminals in the name of equal justice.

VPPJ has called for the state legislature to end mandatory minimum sentences and cash bail. A 2021 letter to the General Assembly argued that these reforms would make it more fair for poorer Virginians. Ashworth does not think making the accused put up collateral to leave jail will help criminals return to court, “Requiring a cash bond punishes people for being poor, and it makes bail bond companies rich,” she said.
With the largest prosecutorial team in the commonwealth, Ashworth has made headlines for prosecuting significantly fewer cases and instead focusing on diversionary efforts as an alternative to prosecution. On average, Ashworth’s predecessor, Paul Ebert, prosecuted 350 felony cases monthly. Ashworth comparatively averages to indict 75 125 felonies per month despite a massive influx in funding and personnel.

Her opponents have blamed the lack of prosecutions as the reason for the county’s alarming 70 percent increase in violent crime between 2019 and 2023. In an unsuccessful bid to unseat Ashworth in 2023, Matt Lowery held a press conference highlighting the rise in violent crime last year. “Ms. Ashworth has charted a course virtually identical to the ultra-liberal prosecutors all around us, and Prince William County residents have paid the price with their property, with their health, and even sometimes with their lives,” Lowery said.

In a 2019 interview with Potomac Local News, Ashworth stated that the fair handling of domestic violence cases was one of her top three issues when running for office. “I will assign a senior attorney to exclusively handle domestic violence so we can pay more attention to the serious domestic violence cases and sort out the minor ‘push-and-shove’ cases,” Ashworth said.

According to The National Domestic Violence Hotline, domestic abuse almost always escalates to something bigger without intervention. This escalation appears to be present in the Moya Claros case, where he is now accused of abducting his victim by force- a felony- in his current case.
Russell’s trial on the December charges is set for August 5, 2024. He remains at the Prince William Adult Detention Center with no bond after his arrest for the Manassas Mall incident. He’s scheduled for a preliminary hearing on the mall charges on September 19, 2024.

Moya Claros’ case is set for another adjudication hearing on November 19, 2024. He remains free on a promise to appear.

*This story has been corrected.