Candidates running in the Democratic primary for Virginia's 1st Congressional District submitted pre-primary campaign finance reports on July 23 covering all fundraising through July 15.
Four candidates reported cumulative fundraising totals exceeding $250,000: Shannon Taylor reported raising $2.14 million since launching her campaign, followed by Jason Knapp with $595,000, Salaam Bhatti with $299,000, and Melvin Tull with $290,000.
Bhatti, Knapp, and Taylor lead the candidate field in endorsements. All seven candidates have completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey.
Bhatti, an attorney formerly with the Virginia Poverty Law Center, said in his survey response he was running because "[e]verything is increasing in cost and our wages are not keeping up. Meanwhile, the wealth inequality gap continues to increase. The time is now to fight for families by passing Medicare for All, strengthening our safety net and making it truly efficient, and providing paid parental leave & living wages."
Knapp, a U.S. Navy veteran, said in his survey he was running because "Only here, in the richest country on earth, do we so often choose to let our most vulnerable suffer. That is a choice, and we can do better. The wealthiest nation in history should never force a family to choose between medicine and food, leave veterans fighting a bureaucracy for benefits they earned, or crush the farmers and watermen who feed us to protect corporate profits."
Taylor, a county prosecutor and 2025 candidate for Virginia Attorney General, said she was running "to prosecute the case against corrupt career politician Rob Wittman -- and make Congress serve the people first. ... Too many families can't make ends meet, and too many people feel like the American dream is out of reach. Our leaders need to step up. But to actually fix this, we have to get to the root of the problem: the political corruption that produces bad policies."
The winner will face incumbent Rob Wittman (R) in the general election. Major election forecasters rate the general election Likely Republican or Lean Republican.
