WASHINGTON _ The fall matchup in one of this year's most competitive House races is now set with Virginia state Sen. Jennifer Wexton clinching the Democratic nomination in the state's 10th District on Tuesday night. Wexton will face Republican incumbent Barbara Comstock, who is running for a third term.
With 64 percent of precincts reporting, Wexton led a six-way Democratic primary field with 44 percent of the vote when The Associated Press called the race.
As the only elected official running in the primary, Wexton started with a name recognition advantage since she already represents part of the 10th District. She ran with the backing of Gov. Ralph S. Northam and local elected officials, and had the endorsement of The Washington Post, an influential voice in the well-educated affluent district in the D.C. suburbs.
Wexton defeated four other women Tuesday, including former State Department official Alison Friedman, who nearly doubled the winner in spending. (Friedman had loaned her campaign $1 million as of the pre-primary reporting period.) Coming in fourth was Army veteran Dan Helmer, who attracted media attention for his offbeat ads, including one that compared President Donald Trump to Osama bin Laden.
The AP actually called the Democratic primary before the Republican contest. Comstock was leading retired Air Force pilot Shak Hill 60 percent to 41 percent when the race was called. Hill hadn't raised anywhere near the kind of money Comstock had amassed, but the sophomore Republican had not taken her primary lightly. She spent $596,000 during the pre-primary period (more than she raised) and her campaign set up a website and ran radio ads against Hill.
Vice President Mike Pence recorded a phone message for Comstock, according to The Washington Post. Comstock will likely find herself having to distance herself from the president in the general election in a district that Hillary Clinton carried by 10 points in 2016. She was No. 2 on Roll Call's list of the 10 most vulnerable House incumbents last month.
A strong campaigner, Comstock overperformed Trump in 2016. Democrats know it won't be enough to tie her to the president. She's clashed with Trump (on camera) earlier this year when she told him, "We don't need a government shutdown."
Comstock has broken with her party on some votes that would have hurt federal workers in her district. She also voted against the House-passed GOP health care overhaul last year (although Democrats will still tie her to GOP efforts to repeal the 2010 law). But on other issues, such as the GOP tax bill, she's stuck with leadership. That could be a vulnerability in an affluent district where many voters claim state and local tax deductions, which the tax law limited.
Many of the Democrats, including Wexton, made gun control a focus of their primary messaging, and the party expects that to be a big attack on Comstock, who has touted her "A" rating from the National Rifle Association.
Having faced a less competitive primary, the incumbent starts with a hefty cash advantage. Comstock ended the pre-primary reporting period with $1.7 million compared to Wexton's $684,000.
