FIRST ON FOX: A survivor of Soviet Union-era communism is jumping into the race to replace late Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va.
Karina Lipsman told Fox News Digital that her family fled the USSR when she was a child and that her childhood in the U.S. began with a single mother raising her in low-income housing in Baltimore.
“We ran from socialism and toward the American dream. We came here because America stood for freedom, hard work and the chance to build something better,” said Lipsman, a Republican.
“We didn’t speak English when we arrived. But I worked hard, kept my head down and earned every step to get to where I am today. I became a citizen at 18. I put myself through undergrad and grad school.”
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Lipsman, who currently works for the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, also praised President Donald Trump and said she believed the country was headed in a similar direction to the situation her family fled.
“We have had an expanding government, a shrinking middle class and a growing dependence on the state. We’ve been sliding away from what made this country great,” she said. “Thankfully, we have a disruptor in Donald Trump who is fighting the status quo, but he needs more allies because the political class is too focused on fame, clicks and climbing ladders.”
Lipsman is the latest candidate to jump into the race for Virginia’s 11th Congressional District, a solidly Democratic portion of the Washington, D.C., suburbs.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Tuesday that the special election to fill Connolly’s seat will be on Sept. 9.
The late Democrat, who died of esophagal cancer in late May, had represented the district since 2009. Connolly had announced in April that he would not be seeking re-election due to his health.
Prior to Connolly, the seat was held by Republican former Rep. Tom Davis from 1995 to 2008.
Since then, however, it has shifted much further left. The nonpartisan Cook Political Index rates the district D+18, and Connolly defeated Republican challengers by more than 30 points in each of the last three election cycles.
Lipsman previously ran for the House in Virginia’s neighboring 8th Congressional District but lost to longtime incumbent Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va. She argued, however, that constituents were hungry for “work horses” – and said she could meet that demand.
“We need leaders who put their heads down and do the hard work to fix what’s broken,” Lipsman said.
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There is already a crowded field of Democratic candidates in the race, including Fairfax County supervisor James Walkinshaw – who Connolly himself endorsed before his death, and state lawmakers Stella Pekarsky and Irene Shin.
Former Minority Business Development Agency counselor Leopoldo Nucete, Navy veteran Joshua Aisen and local Fairfax County official Candice Bennett are also in the race.
Lipsman joins two other Republicans currently in the race, including Mike Van Meter, who Connolly defeated in 2024.