Douglas Ollivant projected to win GOP primary in battleground Virginia District

Republican Douglas Ollivant is projected to win the GOP primary for Virginia’s 7th Congressional District. He will face Democratic Rep. Eugene Vindman in November. 

Ollivant is a former official at the White House’s National Security Council who graduated from West Point. Vindman also served as a lawyer on the National Security Council, and he and his twin brother, Alex Vindman, drew national attention for their role in President Trump’s first impeachment in 2019.

The district is considered a battleground district, although its two most recent U.S. representatives have been Democrats. Vindman beat his Republican opponent by less than three points in 2024. 

Vindman has raised over $12 million, while his potential Republican challengers didn’t come close to $1 million, according to federal election data compiled by the Virginia Public Access Project ahead of the primaries. 

The district spans from north of Richmond to parts of northern Virginia. In May, the Virginia Supreme Court overturned a redistricting amendment that the state’s voters had passed in April. The amendment would have allowed the districts to be drawn mid-decade. The median household income in the district, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, is $113,690, above the median household income for the commonwealth. 

Vindman, a retired U.S. Army officer, is campaigning on addressing the cost of living, holding public officials to stricter ethics standards and supporting service members and veterans, while opposing Mr. Trump’s handling of the war with Iran. Ollivant has also run on cost-of-living issues, including energy prices and housing affordability, and has said the district needs “more jobs, better jobs.”