Both front-runners in the seventh district are special-forces vets in their late 30s with similar policy positions. But one has the backing of GOP leaders.
The Republican primary in Virginia’s seventh congressional district is shaping up to be a test of the GOP establishment’s influence with base voters.
With Democratic representative Abigail Spanberger sitting out in order to run for governor next year, the race features two very similar newcomers vying to flip a Virginia district that was a 38-year Republican stronghold until Spanberger won the seat in 2018. The two front-runners in the six-person race are special-forces veterans of the same generation; one has Republican leadership on his side, while the other has been endorsed by Freedom Caucus leaders who helped oust Kevin McCarthy from the speakership.
Derrick Anderson, 39, served as a Green Beret while Cameron Hamilton, 37, is a retired Navy SEAL. In interviews with National Review, both candidates emphasized the need to stop illegal immigration and fight inflation.
But Anderson enjoys the backing of Speaker Mike Johnson and party leadership, while Hamilton has drawn much of his support from prominent anti-establishment Republicans, including Representatives Bob Good of Virginia, Chip Roy of Texas, and Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Freedom Caucus members who voted to oust McCarthy in October. And a PAC co-founded by Senator Rand Paul (R., Ky.) has spent more than $1.3 million backing Hamilton’s campaign.
The man with the most coveted endorsement in Republican politics, former president Donald Trump, has notably opted to stay out of the race.
Victory for Anderson on Tuesday would notch a win for top House Republicans aiming to run more moderate candidates who will support GOP leadership in Congress.
“We need more governing conservatives here,” Johnson said in a Monday video message urging Republicans to turn out for Anderson. “We need thoughtful people who are principled, who will come here to do the work to help save this country.”
The Congressional Leadership Fund, a House GOP-aligned super PAC, has spent $125,000 on his behalf.
“Derrick Anderson represents the best of what America can be,” CLF president Dan Conston told NR in a statement. “He bravely fought for our country as a Special Forces Green Beret, and as a native of this district, he fully grasps what Virginians are looking for in a representative.”
With about $421,000 on hand as of May 29, Anderson had a $244,000 cash advantage over Hamilton less than three weeks before the election.
Both candidates highlighted their military service in interviews, but the two men have drawn different foreign-policy lessons from their experiences in uniform.
Anderson supports aid to Ukraine, a stance the Washington Post cited when endorsing him. He told NR his service overseas gives him “a keen eye on what is affecting us from a national-security perspective.”
Hamilton told NR he opposes further funding for Ukraine. “I’m not an isolationist,” he said. “I just believe very firmly our European partners need to be the ones to step up to the plate and ensure that they are the first line of defense to protect Ukraine.”
In a town hall last month, Hamilton opposed the reauthorization of Section 702, a tool that allows the federal government broader surveillance authority, while Anderson backed its renewal.
Both candidates have thrown attack ads back and forth in the final stretch of the campaign. Hamilton launched a recent ad claiming Anderson is “under investigation for fraud and lying about his residency.” An anonymous person filed an ethics complaint, but no official investigation has been announced, the Post reported.
Anderson criticized Hamilton’s time in the Department of Homeland Security in an ad called “Secure the Border.” Hamilton was appointed during the Trump administration to manage “emergency medical services” in the DHS and left last year, according to the Post.
While Trump has stayed out of the seventh district, his endorsement of a primary challenger has shaken up the fifth congressional district in southern Virginia. After Good, the fifth-district incumbent, endorsed Florida governor Ron DeSantis’s failed presidential bid, Trump endorsed state senator John McGuire.
“Bob Good is BAD FOR VIRGINIA, AND BAD FOR THE USA,” Trump said in a Truth Social post late last month. “He turned his back on our incredible movement, and was constantly attacking and fighting me until recently, when he gave a warm and ‘loving’ Endorsement. But really, it was too late. The damage had been done!”
A set of more moderate Republican PACs, including the Republican Main Street Partnership, have backed McGuire after Good stymied McCarthy’s speaker bid early last year and helped remove him from the role in October. Anti-Good spending, as labeled by the Virginia Public Access Project, outpaces all other types in the race, including Pro-McGuire outlays.
Support behind McGuire has snowballed in recent weeks, with endorsements even from members of the Good-led House Freedom Caucus. Representative Warren Davidson (R., Ohio), a member of the Freedom Caucus, endorsed McGuire on Sunday.
In the Senate primary, retired Navy captain Hung Cao is expected to win the GOP nomination after raising more than twice as much as any other candidate and grabbing the Trump endorsement. The Vietnamese immigrant lost his bid for the tenth congressional district by about six points in 2022.