Eugene Vindman has apologized for posing for a photo while holding the Virginia State Flag adopted by the Confederate state government during the Civil War.

Potomac Local was the first to report on the photo on Monday, April 15, 2024. Vindman asked the person who posted it to X, formerly Twitter, to remove it from the social media platform.

According to the Democrat, a congressional candidate who seeks to replace Abigail Spanberger in Virginia’s 7th District (Prince William, Stafford, Spotsylvania, and Fredericksburg) in a June 18, 2024, Primary Election, he posed for the photo after delivering a keynote speech at the Ukrainian Action Summit in Washington, D.C.

“Unbeknownst to me, in one of these pictures was a flag of Virginia spanning the Civil War era. When I glanced at the flag, I did not link it to the Civil War era. When I realized this mistake, I directed my team to reach out to this attendee to ask him to take the picture down, as it in no way aligns with any of my core values and background. I apologize,” Vindman wrote in a statement on X.

Democrats and Republicans were quick to criticize Vindman today on social media. The most notable, Virignia State Senator Louise Lucas, posted on X, “How could someone who wants to represent us be so ignorant of our history?”

Other Democrats seeking the party’s nomination in the 7th District race chimed in, too.

“One thing you’ll never see me do is pose for a picture with a Confederate flag,” said a former Virginia House of Delegates member, Elizabeth Guzman.

“It’s disheartening to see that someone who wants to represent so many people of color pose behind a confederate flag,” said Andrea Bailey, another Democrat seeking the nomination and a Prince William County Board of Supervisors member.

Republican Derrick Anderson, who’s in a race of multiple Republicans seeking that party’s nomination, said, “Yet another reason why this newcomer isn’t fit to serve Virginia’s 7th District.”

Vindman has raised more than $1.7 million in the race to replace Spanberger, more than any other Democrat or Republican seeking the congressional seat. Much of that cash has come from out-of-state contributors from places like California and New York.

The 25-year Army veteran, originally from Ukraine, was a crucial witness in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump. He continues to campaign on that fact, all the while facing criticism from members of his party for being a political newcomer and from residents who question his intentions of being a white man running against a field of black female Democrats.

During a Democrat voter forum at the Dr. A.J. Ferlazzo Government Building in Woodbridge on March 27, 2024, a white man asked Vindman, “Currently, our Congressional representative is a white woman. Do you think it’s time to pass that torch to someone of color? And considering we have so many strong women of color running for this seat.”

“I’m an immigrant, and I’m Jewish, fleeing a bigoted communist regime. So I understand those perspectives,” Vindman responded.

Vindman has also been criticized for not being active locally in the Democratic Party. Delegate Joshua Cole asked, “I’m sorry – who is this? I’ve never seen this person in our area. At. All.”

During the March 27 forum, Vindman, currently a Prince William County resident, defended himself, saying he has lived in the 7th District since 2016. “My kids have gone to school here. I think for Northern Virginia, I qualify as a long-term resident since I’ve been here since 2016 in this transitory community,” said Vindman.

The three-term incumbent Spanberger announced her run for governor of Virginia in 2025. She seeks to replace Glenn Youngkin (R), whom the Virginia State Constitution prohibits from seeking a second term.

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A photo of Eugene Vindman holding a confederate state flag of Virginia appeared on X, formerly Twitter.

Vindman, a Democrat and a 25-year Army veteran was a key witness in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial. He is running to replace Abigail Spanberger (D) in the U.S. House of Representatives in Virginia’s 7th District, which includes Prince William, Stafford, and Spotsylvania counties and Fredericksburg.

Vindman and others are holding the flag used by the Confederate Virginia State Government from 1861 to 1865. The flag is similar to the Commonwealth flag used today, with a few noted differences. There are some color variations,  the woman representing Roman virtue is fully clothed, and the king tyrant on the ground is looking up at the woman.

Today’s Virginia flag shows the woman’s exposed breast and the king tyrant lying dead on the ground.

A total of 11 Confederate states adopted state flags during the Civil War. The original X post with the photo of Vindman holding the flag has been deleted.

“Colonel Vindman served our country abroad and by standing up to Donald Trump’s corruption, so the notion that he would stand by any sort of Confederate flag is absolutely absurd,” Jeremy Levinson, a campaign spokesman, told Potomac Local News.

Vindman, a Lake Ridge resident and political newcomer, has raised $1.75 million in campaign contributions — more than any other Democrat or Republican in the race. A Primary Election on June 18 will decide which Democrat and Republican candidate will compete for the seat during the November 2024 General Election.

The majority of Vindman’s campaign donations have come from outside of the state. The Federal Election Commission sent a letter to Eugene Vindman’s campaign last month asking for clarifications on his end-of-year finance report about many unitemized donations, reports the Virginia Scope.

Levinson told Potomac Local News that Vindman is focused on the 7th District, has participated in multiple Democratic voter candidate forums, and has attended numerous fundraisers inside the homes of supporters who live there.

The three-term incumbent Spanberger announced her run for Virginia Governor in 2025, seeking to replace Glenn Youngkin (R), whom the Virginia State Constitution prohibited from seeking a second term.

The Federal Election Commission sent a letter to Eugene Vindman’s campaign last month asking for clarifications on his finance report about many unitemized donations, reports Virginia Scope Political Newsletter.

Vindman is a Dale City resident and has raised more cash than any other Democrat seeking the party nomination to run in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District to replace Abigail Spanberger, who is running for governor. A Primary Election will be held on June 18, 2024.

The Manassas City GOP hosted a social event at the Old Towne Sports Pub to celebrate George Ellis' election as its new chairman. Sharon Ashurst was recognized for her 25 years of service to the party, including her tenure as Chair and her unwavering support in the city. She received a standing ovation.

Attendees included Heather Rice from the Virginia Republican Party; Chris Harnisch, 10th Congressional District Chair; Ben Hazekamp, 7th Congressional District Chair; Jacob Alderman, Prince William County Republican Committee Chair; and Former Manassas Mayor Hal Parrish.

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According to a press release, Virginia 7 Congressional District candidate Derrick Anderson will turn in more than double the required number of signatures to get on the Virginia ballot today.

The state requires 1,000 signatures to enter the June 18, 2024 Primary Election Ballot. Filing begins at noon today and ends at 5 p.m. on April 4.

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Fresh off a win for a second term as Prince William County School Board Chairman, Dr. Babur Lateef announced his campaign for Lieutenant Governor of Virginia today.

Lateef, an ophthalmologist in Woodbridge and a Democrat, is seeking his party’s nomination for Lt. Governor, a position now held by Republican Winsome Sears.

Lateef announced his candidacy in a video, highlighted his service as both a doctor and Chairman of the school board, and enumerated the many accomplishments of the Prince William County school system. Dr. Lateef called particular attention to the public’s vital role in shaping policy by celebrating the Public Comments portion of every school board meeting as “one of the few places where citizens are guaranteed the right to speak directly to their elected representatives.”

Since the pandemic, the Board’s public comment policy has been the subject of debate. The board has moved to limit the number of speakers who may address the board and cap the length of time during which residents may speak.

Over the last year, the school board has capped the number of public speakers, and Prince William Education Association members of the teachers union have monopolized the spots, urging the School Board to adopt a collective bargaining agreement for higher pay.

“The challenges we face are now in Richmond,” Dr. Lateef says in the video. Glenn Youngkin has done real harm to the spirit of partnership within our communities.”

Lateef’s dig on Youngkin comes as 53% of Virginians approve of how Youngkin is handling his job as governor, according to a Roanoke College poll.

“I believe the rhetoric he uses when he speaks about schools, school divisions, and school boards are not helpful. His representation that boards don’t listen to parents is completely off base,” Lateef told Potomac Local News. “I am a parent, and I have been Chair for six years. And every move our board and most boards make is responsive to their local families, students, and staff. That has been my record. Parents know I listen to them and know that they matter to me. The evidence is that they have re-elected me with wider margins each time.

Lateef beat Carrie Rest, his Republican-endorsed challenger in 2023, by 10 points, winning 50% of the vote across Prince William County. He won in 2019 by nearly the same margin, beating the Republican-endorsed Allison Satterwhite, who served on the county School Board.

In each race, Lateef handily outspent his opponents. Last year, Lateef spent $263,000 to Rist’s $39,297. In 2019, he spent $131,000 to Satterwhite’s $31,000.

Lateef was appointed School Board chair in 2018 to replace Ryan Sawyers, who resigned. He later won a special election to complete Sawyer’s term, beating Satterwhite and Stanley Bender, who never campaigned for the job.

Lateef took heat from fellow School Board members and other Democrats when, in December 2020, he ordered the return of some students to the classroom when most other public school systems in the Washington, D.C. area were still requiring students to work remotely.

Democrat Gov. Ralph Northam was the first in the nation to shutter public schools in light of the coronavirus in March 2020. Lateef told Potomac Local Northam that it was correct to close schools at the onset of the pandemic but added that schools should have been reopened by the summer of 2020.

Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe endorsed Dr. Lateef today.

“I am honored to be Dr. Babur Lateef’s first endorser for Lieutenant Governor of Virginia,” said Governor Terry McAuliffe. “I have called upon his counsel many times over the last 15 years. I saw how Babur fought the backward policies of the Prince William County Supervisors in 2011 when few others stood up. Babur helped ensure his County turned blue from top to bottom in 2019,” states McAuliffe in a press release.

McAuliffe lost his re-election bid for a second, nonconsecutive term as governor to Youngkin in 2021 by two percentage points.

Lateef is the first and only person to announce his run for the seat for the 2025 General Election. Meanwhile, Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va. 7th), and Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney, a Democrat, have announced her run for governor to replace Youngkin, who cannot seek a second term.

So far, no Republicans have announced their intentions for statewide office. However, all eyes are on Winsome Sears and Attorney General Jason Miyares, both considered potential gubernatorial candidates.

Lateef considered a run for Lt. Governor in 2020; however, decoded to stay out of the race to focus on his school board duties.

Donald Trump won his first victory in Prince William County during a dual Presidential Primary on Super Tuesday, March 5, 2023.

The presumptive nominee won handily in the county, with 60% of the vote, 18,768 votes. His Republican Primary opponent, Nikki Haley, won just three of the county’s 84 election precincts, 11,313 votes.

Republicans, or those who voted in the Republican Primary (Virginia law allows anyone, from any party, to vote in a Republican or Democrat Primary Election) in Precinct 615, dubbed “Commons,” at the Neabsco Commons neighborhood flanked by the Northern Virginia Community College Woodbridge Campus and Stonebridge at Potomac Town Center, thought the former South Carolina Governor would be a better choice.

Voters in the Antietam Precinct, number 514 in Lake Ridge, and the Potomac Shores Precinct near Dumfries also supported Haley.

Trump’s win in Prince William County marks a shift in the country’s electorate. In 2016, the U.S. Senator from Florida, Marco Rubio, won the county with 15,540 votes to Trump’s 15,348.

“There was little chance that the Republican Primary was going to be close, and Haley’s campaign was on life support going into Super Tuesday. The circumstances were good news for Donald Trump in northern Virginia’s outer ring suburban communities and elsewhere,” said Professor and Director, Center for Leadership and Media Studies at Mary Washington University Stephen Farnsworth. “Trump’s stronger performance in the suburbs in this primary, compared to his weaker performance in 2016, demonstrates that Virginia’s suburbs remain competitive.”

Prince William and Loudoun counties bucked the trend in Northern Virignia, which saw voters in Arlington, Alexandria, and Fairfax choose Haley over Trump. A total of 30,030 votes were cast in the Republican Primary in Prince William, compared to 18,608 votes cast in the county for the Democrat primary.

In 2017, one year into Trump’s presidency, Democrats came out in droves and flipped Prince William County’s reliably Republican Virginia House of Delegates and Senate seats from red to blue, electing a wave of new Democrats. While the trend has primarily contained, Republicans showed signs of life in the 2023 Elections, with wins for Delegate Ian Lovejoy (R-22, Bristow) and Erica Trendinnick, a Republican who flipped the Brentsville District seat on the county school board overseeing the second-largest school division in the state.

House Districts 21, held by Democrat Josh Thomas, and Distirct 22 held by Lovejoy, are considered competitive districts, according to VPAP.

“While only a sliver of Virginia voters participate in primaries Trump’s strong showing demonstrates that the most motivated Republicans continue to support him,” added Farnsworth.

South of Prince William in Stafford County, Trump won handily with 67% of the vote, winning 10,002 votes to Haley’s 4,488. Haley won zero precincts in Stafford County.

In the region’s cities, Trump won Manassas, Manassas Park, and Fredericksburg with 64%, 63%, and 50% of the vote, respectively.

Trump won Virginia, one of many states he picked up during the Super Tuesday contest. Haley is expected to drop out of the race.

“Voters are upset with the direction our country is heading in; for example, a recent Roanoke College poll showed that more than 60% of Virginians disapprove of the way Biden is handling the Presidency,” said Josh Quill, a 2023 candidate for the House of Delegates in Prince William County. “Republicans want lower taxes, safer communities, and stronger immigration enforcement, all things they experienced during the Trump Administration. President Trump enjoys an incumbent-like status that is difficult to overcome.”

Democrats came out in force for President Joe Biden, who won Virginia over primary challengers Marianne Williamson and Dean Phillips, who won zero precincts in Prince William and Stafford counties, Manassas, Manassas Park, or Fredericksburg.

Prince William County Republican Committee Press Release: The previously scheduled March 2nd Prince William County Republican Committee Biennial Convention at Osbourn Park High School has been canceled. Chair Jacob Mosser called the Convention to select a new Chair for the Prince William County Republican Committee, as well as to vote on delegates to the 7th and 10th Congressional District Conventions and the State Convention.

Vice Chair Jacob Alderman with no opposition, and with the support of leading local Republicans and the acclamation of the Committee, will become the new Chair. All individuals who filed to attend the conventions were accepted as delegates.

Chair Jacob Mosser declined to run for a full term. He received the heartfelt thanks of the Committee at its February 26 meeting for his service. Jacob Alderman will officially take over as Chair on March 2.

Jacob Alderman, a lifelong resident of Prince William County, has served on the Committee for 10 years. His first leadership role was serving as the executive director of the Prince William Republican Committee from 2016-2019. He was the Chair of the Prince William Young Republican Club and Operations Chairman for the Committee. He has worked on multiple campaigns, advocating for conservative values and promoting strong Republican leadership.

Chair Alderman’s goals will be to recruit strong Conservative leaders to run for office, and to train candidates and volunteers to communicate our values effectively to the community in order to elect more Republicans to local, state, and federal office.

DeShundra Jefferson, chair of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors, answered resident and media questions about housing, data centers, and the future of the county at the Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024, town hall event.

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