As early voting in Virginia’s November elections came to a close on Saturday (Nov. 1), Fairfax Del. Dan Helmer (D-10) was on the road in a final push to secure a victory not just for himself, but for Democratic candidates across the state.
As the campaigns chair for the Virginia House Democratic Caucus, a role he landed based on his defeat of Fairfax County’s last Republican delegate, Tim Hugo, in 2019, Helmer has been tasked with overseeing races in all 100 House districts — every single one of which will have a Democrat on the ballot.
If the party succeeds in expanding its current one-seat majority, it would be their first time retaining a majority in the House of Delegates in consecutive elections in three decades, according to Helmer.
That was the goal he and House Speaker Don Scott (D-88) laid out for the caucus the day after the Nov. 7, 2023 elections, when Democrats narrowly flipped the chamber — a feat that Helmer says a minority party in Virginia hadn’t managed with the opposing party occupying the governor’s mansion in 60 years.
Building on that momentum, Helmer says the caucus hopes to deliver a “historic Democratic majority” in an election that will also decide Virginia’s next governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general.
“I feel highly confident that we are going to protect all of our incumbents,” said Helmer, who is attempting to fend off Republican challenger David Guill for the 10th District seat that represents Clifton, Centreville and the Kings Park West area. “We have changed the narrative on issues that Republicans believe they controlled.”
As an example, he pointed to Del. Josh Thomas’s championing of a bill during the 2025 General Assembly session to designate the manufacturing and distribution of fentanyl that results in a death as involuntary manslaughter. The legislation ultimately passed both chambers and was signed into law by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, taking effect on July 1.
With that bill on hand to dispute narratives of Democrats being soft on crime, Helmer anticipates that Thomas will handily hold onto the 21st District in Prince William County, just two years after flipping the seat by fewer than 1,000 votes.
When it comes to candidates vying to unseat Republican incumbents, he likes the chances of Democrats prevailing in two repeats of 2023 races: Kimberly Pope Adams again challenged Petersburg Del. Kim Taylor (R-82), who defeated her by a mere 53 votes in 2023, and Lily Franklin is locked in a battle for the 41st District, which includes Blacksburg and previously sided with Del. Chris Obenshain by 183 votes.
The party also has hopes of possible upsets by Leslie Mehta in District 82 (Chesterfield County) and Virgil Thornton in District 86 (Hampton Roads), among others.
“Our strategy is to not leave any voter untouched or behind, and that it does not matter if places have been traditionally Republican,” he said. “We are ready to go there and compete, because we understand that our values, when spoken of correctly, are the values of Virginia.”
With polls opening tomorrow (Tuesday), Helmer discussed Democrats’ strategy for the pivotal statewide elections, the influence of national politics and why he supports the party’s push for mid-term redistricting in a phone interview with FFXnow last Friday (Oct. 31).
The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
FFXnow: What is your approach as the campaign chair and the Democratic Party’s approach to this election in terms of what your priorities are and the top issues that you think are relevant to voters?
Helmer: It’s been three decades since Democrats won a back-to-back majority in the Virginia House, and the way we [are] going to do that is by as a team, as a whole caucus, investing in delivering for Virginians on the issues that they cared about. We knew that they cared about the attacks on their personal freedoms and the effort by MAGA Republicans to limit reproductive rights. We knew they cared about the quality of their schools and are concerned about the education of our children. We knew they were concerned about public safety and want to make sure that dangerous people don’t have access to dangerous weapons, and we knew that, most of all, they were concerned about what was happening on their kitchen tables in terms of their ability to afford to put food on the table, to get medical care, to take their family out from time to time. And knowing that, we delivered on an agenda that Virginians cared about.
Then, we made a decision to fight for as many districts as possible, recruiting and running candidates across every single one of the 100 districts in Virginia, something that neither party has accomplished in decades … We have 14 battleground districts that are held by Republicans and four districts held by Democrats that we’re defending — an 18-seat battleground — and in every single one of those districts, we have, because of that grassroots enthusiasm, out-fundraised, out-communicated and outworked our opponents, which we expect on Tuesday is going to deliver a historic Democratic majority.
FFXnow: With this election, how are Democrats balancing a focus on state issues versus national politics and what’s going on in D.C.?
Helmer: I think what we’ve seen is that Virginians understand that, while Republicans are too terrified of Donald Trump to acknowledge and act on the impact that this administration is having on their households, Democrats here in Virginia — and specifically in the Virginia House — come from their communities, understand the pain that people are experiencing every day, the fear that we can’t make ends meet, and have been delivering on trying to make it better. I think that is the contrast: that Republicans are too concerned about who uses whose bathroom or taking away your ability to have access to birth control, that they can’t possibly be concerned about what it’s like when your paycheck disappears because Republicans shut down the [federal] government.
FFXnow: Since we cover Fairfax County, how do you handle campaigns in reliably Democratic districts to ensure that you’re not taking that support for granted?
Helmer: For Fairfax County, what I’m hearing every single day is the impact of this administration on our economy and our jobs, as they eviscerate the federal government, as they attack our livelihoods, as they attack our freedoms. People are very concerned about the impact on our schools, of the funding of the Department of Education. They are very worried about the weaponization of the Department of Justice, and they worry that it’s going to impact them personally. And so, there is a real climate of concern and even fear in Fairfax County, where I live, where my wife works in our public schools, and we see the impact in terms of the stress on our children and our families, and they are looking for people who are willing to stand up and protect our democracy.
FFXnow: Just to confirm, when you say “this administration,” you’re referring to the federal government?
Helmer: The federal government, and in Virginia … a current attorney general in Jason Miyares, who is so extreme that he refuses to join a lawsuit that other states are filing to protect Virginia against the Trump administration’s unlawful action. So, I refer both to the Trump administration and the work of the current attorney general in Virginia, as well as the lieutenant governor, who said time and again that Virginia should be for certain people with certain beliefs and not for others. So, I think those two things go in tandem, and certainly, with House Republicans who have been unwilling to fight for the values that matter, not just in Fairfax County but across the state.
FFXnow: Which lawsuit are you referring to?
Helmer: Just this week, attorney generals around the country and as close as D.C. and Maryland filed a lawsuit to prevent the Trump administration from cutting off food assistance to children across the country, and Jason Miyares, our attorney general, refused to join that lawsuit … There are many of these, but that is just one example. He refused also to join efforts to stop the illegal firing of federal workers.
FFXnow: In Fairfax County, it’s been a busy election year with the special election for the 11th Congressional District. What were your takeaways from Walkinshaw’s election?
Helmer: I should say I’m incredibly grateful for James Walkinshaw’s willingness and efforts to join Speaker Don Scott and me in ensuring a Democratic majority in Virginia and an expansive one. I think as the newest member of Congress, he has demonstrated that he understands the impacts on Fairfax County of extreme MAGA efforts targeted at Virginia and so, has been a great ally in the last few months, as we try to expand our majority and give Virginia the tools to fight back against an extreme administration’s actions that are hurting Virginians every day.
FFXnow: Looking at the results of the 2024 presidential election now that the Trump administration has been in office for a while, Virginia voted for Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, but were there any lessons from last year’s presidential race that you’re applying to this year?
Helmer: I would almost say that a little bit different. I think, two years ago, when we set out and won a majority with the other party in the governor’s mansion, flipping a House for the first time in 60 years, we understood that the thing that mattered is campaigning on the issues that Virginians cared about — their personal economy and their personal freedoms — and we won that way. We won with diverse candidates who came from their community. We delivered on the issues that Virginians care about, setting the stage for a constitutional amendment protecting reproductive rights in Virginia, and we saw that nationally, when folks took a different approach, it didn’t work. And so, I think we are going to build on the lessons from two years ago, which were proven in the negative in the presidential election, and use that to continue to expand [our majority] and show how Virginia Democrats can be a model for Democrats nationally on not only how you win, but how you govern.
FFXnow: The General Assembly has been in a special session this week. What are your thoughts are on the discussions around redistricting — first, the fact that it’s happening so close to this election, and also, what it could mean for future elections?
Helmer: As somebody who is the son of an immigrant, the grandson of refugees, who swore an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States, and who knows every single thing this democracy has done for my family and so many families like mine, there is nothing I think is more important than preserving America as a vibrant democracy that serves every American. And the fact that Donald Trump has ordered states across the country to redistrict because he knows that his policies are unpopular, and if he has to face them at the ballot box, he will lose Congress. That’s the thing of two-bit banana republics, not the thing that makes America a leader in the world.
I am proud of the fact that Virginia Democrats met this week to give Virginia — because Virginians will get to vote on it — the option to respond to this undemocratic action by the Trump administration in an extreme moment with a very limited amendment that ensures that Virginians, who have demonstrated time and again, they support the policies that have made America wealthy, the policies that have made America a democracy, the policies that have made America a leader on the world. Virginians have demonstrated time and again that that is what we are for, and we are giving Virginia voters the option in a few months to be able to fight back against these undemocratic actions by the Trump administration.
FFXnow: Was there anything else that you want to mention about your approach to this election and the Democratic Party’s strategy?
Helmer: At the end of the day, what [voters are] going to see on Tuesday when we win is the culmination of a two-year strategy that Speaker Don Scott and I set out the day after the [2023] election, and it was built on making sure that we demonstrated that Virginians lives were better because of having a Democratic majority in the House. Now, we are looking to ensure that Virginians with a Democratic governor who won’t obstruct policy have an opportunity to see their daily lives improve, despite the actions of this extreme presidential administration.
