Seven better options than Rob Wittman

And how they stack up on the issues

This article was changed on 7 June to update the number of candidates from eight to seven, removing Lewis Littlepage from the analysis. Mr. Littlepage dropped out of the VA-01 race in May.

Greetings from Wittman Watch HQ! 👋

Groceries cost more than they did last year. Rent, electricity, and gas also cost more; childcare, too. And if you’re one of the roughly 23,000 VA-01 residents expected to lose Medicaid coverage under the law Rob Wittman voted for, your healthcare is about to cost a lot more, or possibly even disappear.

This is the affordability and healthcare crunch every VA-01 family is feeling. Affordability is a bigger problem today than in 2024, when Donald Trump promised to bring prices down “on day one.” Every candidate on the August 4 Democratic Party primary ballot is running on affordability. But what differentiates them?

We’ve read every campaign website. We scrolled their Facebook, Instagram, X, and Bluesky accounts. The good news for VA-01 voters is that you have real choices. Each of the eight seven Democratic candidates brings different priorities, different experience, and different ideas about how to represent us. In this newsletter we’ll help you choose wisely.

What they have in common

Across the eight seven Democratic challengers, the consensus is broad. All of them want to lower prescription drug prices. All want to protect Medicaid. All want billionaires and large corporations to pay higher effective tax rates than teachers and firefighters currently do. All want reproductive rights protected in federal law. All of them understand that rural hospitals (most specifically Rappahannock General) are at risk because of the cuts Wittman enthusiastically supported.

The candidates’ differences are in approach, background, and emphasis. Below is a comparison built around the issues voters care about most.

The comparison

First, here are three tables (each with three issues) that show the candidates’ approaches. The issues are ordered by voters’ priority, and Rob Wittman’s perspective on each is included to help you compare the incumbent against his opponents.

Get to know your candidates

Now let’s review what each candidate emphasizes most strongly, in their own framing:

Salaam Bhatti — public-interest attorney, child of immigrants who relied on WIC and free school meals, refuses corporate PAC and AIPAC money.

• Centerpiece: Medicare for All, tax billionaires, restore trust in government.

• Distinctive: guaranteed income, uncapping the U.S. House so each member represents fewer constituents.

Tim Cywinski — community organizer, Sierra Club veteran, gun violence prevention advocate, refuses corporate PAC money. Calls himself a “Reformist Democrat.”

• Centerpiece: the “Fair Shot Agenda” of campaign finance reform, $500 “Democracy Dollars” for every citizen, and lower middle-class taxes.

• Distinctive: the only candidate making Big Tech data center build-out a flagship issue, with detailed proposals to stop projects from raising your electric bill or draining water supplies.

Elizabeth Dempsey Beggs — Army veteran and former Tank Commander, foster parent, mother of four, William & Mary MBA student, rejects AIPAC money.

• Centerpiece: a “New Deal Democrat” platform of family stability, affordable childcare, public schools, veterans’ care, and reproductive rights.

• Distinctive: foster youth advocacy and military-family TRICARE focus.

Jason Knapp — 21-year Navy F/A-18 pilot, NATO veteran, energy policy expert, grew up on SNAP and Medicaid, refuses corporate PAC money.

• Centerpiece: economic security from the ground up, democracy that works, real support for veterans.

• Distinctive: national-security Democrat profile and discipline.

Ericka Kopp — healthcare attorney, caregiver to her disabled veteran husband, biracial, bisexual and bilingual.

• Centerpiece: a comprehensive universal healthcare system that includes dental, vision, and hearing.

• Distinctive: the most expansive progressive platform in the field, including abolishing ICE, releasing the full Epstein files, raising the minimum wage to $30/hour, and impeaching Trump on day one.

Lewis Littlepage — retired attorney and retired Air Force officer, former federal prosecutor, current Poquoson Electoral Board chair.

• Centerpiece: secure borders with constitutional rights, fiscal responsibility, equal justice.

• Distinctive: the most district-specific accountability document in the field — a dedicated farmer-focused page enumerating specific harms Wittman’s votes have done to Virginia farmers and how a different representative would respond.

Shannon Taylor — three-term Henrico Commonwealth’s Attorney, first woman elected to that office, with a 90% homicide conviction rate.

• Centerpiece: prosecutorial credibility, protect Medicaid, lower costs, defend reproductive freedom, hold Wittman accountable.

• Distinctive: pledged as commonwealth’s attorney never to prosecute women or doctors for abortion care; took on the KKK and the NRA.

Mel Tull — Army veteran and business attorney, former Henrico Democrats treasurer, Fortune 500 corporate counsel turned small-firm practitioner.

• Centerpiece: protect Medicaid and reduce the deficit, lower drug costs without “stifling innovation.”

• Distinctive: the most centrist framing in the field, including an “all of the above” energy approach and explicit emphasis on bipartisan cooperation.

Where Wittman has waffled

There are some specific, notable gaps between what Wittman tells you and what he has actually done.

On healthcare. Wittman’s campaign website still talks about “transparency in healthcare,” “ending surprise billing,” and protecting “current Social Security and Medicare beneficiaries.” Then he voted for a law that the Kaiser Family Foundation estimates will strip coverage from roughly 350,000 Virginians, including more than 23,000 of your neighbors in VA-01. Vote Smart shows him rated 0% by the Alliance for Retired Americans and 0% by the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.

On the Medicaid promise specifically. He signed a letter to House leadership saying he opposed the version of the One Big Beautiful Bill that would gut Medicaid. Then he betrayed us all and voted yes anyway. The cuts total roughly $1 trillion. Rappahannock General Hospital — the closest hospital for many Northern Neck residents — is among the rural hospitals at risk of closing as a result.

On affordability. He campaigned on “lowering costs.” He then voted for tariffs that have raised consumer prices and squeezed Virginia farmers; for a tax-and-spending package that adds trillions to the federal debt; and against the Affordable Care Act provisions that help the very middle-class families he claims to represent. This was all under the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which he now refers to as the “Working Families Tax Cut Act.” That bill doesn’t reference “working families” even once, and the permanent tax cuts are for the wealthy and corporations. His insistence on calling it this name is a sick, deeply unfunny joke.

On democracy. Wittman joined the Texas v. Pennsylvania amicus brief in December 2020, a lawsuit attempting to overturn the results of a presidential election. The lawsuit failed, so he then voted against certifying the 2020 election results on January 6, 2021. His campaign rhetoric emphasizes “constitutional values.” Wittman’s votes — as usual — don’t match his words; he cannot be trusted.

What’s at stake

The Cook Political Report rated VA-01 as “Leans Republican” before the Virginia Supreme Court’s redistricting ruling reinstated the old map. VA-01 was one of only 19 districts nationally that moved left at the presidential level in 2024. The most recent polling of the existing VA-01 — from a Republican firm in April 2026 — showed Trump underwater in the district at 42% favorable, 50% unfavorable. Wittman himself registered just 35% favorable. In a head-to-head matchup earlier in the campaign, the race polled dead even.

A Democrat can win the VA-01 race. Whichever Democrat emerges from August 4 will face a vulnerable Rob Wittman in a district that’s tilting away from him. In 18 years, he’s never had to compete for our seat like this. He’s not prepared for it. His lies are catching up with him. More of us see what Wittman has become: a silently complicit MAGA politician who serves wealthy donors and sells our rights, liberties, and opportunities to please them. We don’t have to suffer more years of this. America can’t afford to suffer the likes of Wittman.

The choice you make in the primary matters.

How to vote in the Democratic primary

• June 19: Early voting begins

• July 13: Voter registration deadline

• August 4, 2026: Election Day

✅ You can register, check your status, or request an absentee ballot at elections.virginia.gov.

Read the candidates’ websites. Follow them on your favorite platforms. If you can, donate to their campaigns. Here’s how you can find them:

Show up at candidate forums. Ask them questions. They are running to represent you. Make them earn it.

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We’ll continue tracking each candidate’s promises against their actions through August and into November. Subscribe for updates, and tell us your thoughts about the candidate field in the comments here or on any of our social media channels: BlueSky, Facebook, Instagram, and Reddit.