STAFFORD, Va. — Since launching his House campaign last year, Yevgeny “Eugene” Vindman has become a cause célèbre for liberal donors across the country. The former Army officer has parlayed his history as a foe of Donald Trump — he helped reveal a scandal in 2019 that would eventually lead to the former president’s first impeachment — to millions of dollars in small contributions.
The response to Vindman’s campaign on the ground here in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District, however, is less enthusiastic.
In a series of unusually sharp denunciations, local Democratic elected officials have publicly accused Vindman of being a stranger in his own district. They’ve criticized him for failing to help local party candidates in last year’s state elections. And they jeered at him for public mishaps that they say have undermined his connection to the area.