In a surprising political upset Tuesday night, Republican Jeannie LaCroix captured a long-held Democratic seat in Northern Virginia after the Democratic campaign collapsed in the final weeks amid scandal, residency concerns, and intense internal party conflict.
LaCroix won the special election for the Woodbridge District seat on the Prince William County Board of County Supervisors with 1,694 votes, representing 43.73 percent of the total vote. Democratic nominee Muhammad Sufiyan “Sef” Casim finished with 1,436 votes, or 37.07 percent. Write-in candidates collectively received 744 votes, accounting for 19.20 percent of ballots cast—an unusually large share in a local race and a strong indication of significant divisions within the Democratic base.
The result is historically significant for the district. It marks the first time in 38 years that a Republican has won the Woodbridge seat, a position that Democrats had controlled continuously for decades.
Casim’s campaign began to unravel weeks before Election Day after previously posted social media comments resurfaced online and quickly drew widespread criticism. Opponents and critics characterized the posts as racist, misogynistic, and xenophobic. Although Casim issued a public apology acknowledging the remarks and expressing regret, several prominent Democratic leaders at both the state and local levels said the statements were unacceptable and urged him to withdraw from the race.
Most of the Democrats currently serving on the county’s Board of County Supervisors publicly called for Casim to step aside in favor of a different nominee. However, the Prince William County Democratic Committee chose to stand behind him, stating that his apology addressed the issue and that he should remain the party’s candidate. That decision created a deep divide within the local Democratic Party and sparked criticism from some activists and elected officials.
The internal dispute intensified when Pamela Montgomery, a longtime Woodbridge resident and former chief of staff to Delegate Margaret Franklin, entered the race as a write-in candidate just one week before Election Day.
Montgomery had narrowly lost to Casim in a Democratic “firehouse caucus” held in February, a party-run nomination process used instead of a traditional primary. The margin of defeat was extremely slim—only 33 votes. After the caucus, Montgomery alleged that irregularities had occurred during the voting process. She claimed that some individuals who participated were not properly registered residents of the Woodbridge District and said that at least 31 ballots had been disqualified during the counting process.
Although the party did not overturn the caucus results, Montgomery’s concerns fueled dissatisfaction among some Democratic voters. Her late decision to launch a write-in campaign ultimately proved consequential. The write-in effort attracted nearly one-fifth of the total vote in the special election, drawing support from voters who might otherwise have backed the Democratic nominee and effectively splitting the party’s vote.
Casim’s campaign also faced scrutiny over questions related to residency. Prior to running for the Woodbridge supervisor seat, he had been a candidate in a different race: the December 2025 primary for Virginia’s House District 23 seat. In that contest, he lost to Franklin. After that defeat, Casim relocated to Woodbridge and soon announced his candidacy for the county supervisor seat that Franklin had vacated.
While the move complied with Virginia election law, some local residents criticized the decision and labeled it “carpetbagging,” suggesting he had moved primarily for political opportunity rather than longstanding ties to the district. Under Virginia law, candidates must have lived in the state for at least one year and must establish residency within the district they seek to represent by Election Day. Casim met those legal requirements, but questions about his connection to the community persisted during the campaign.
Additional controversy arose during a virtual candidate forum held on February 5, when Casim declined to answer questions regarding his residency. According to local media reports, a source later told 7News that on the day of the Democratic caucus Casim had cast a provisional ballot because the address he provided to the party allegedly did not match the address listed on his voter registration.
Neither Casim nor Samuel Chisolm, chair of the county Democratic Party, publicly responded to questions about the provisional ballot or the discrepancies surrounding the address.
Tensions within the party became even more visible in the final days of the campaign. One day before the election, the Prince William County Democratic Committee posted what it described as a “fraud alert” on its Facebook page. The post suggested that Montgomery’s write-in campaign was coordinating with Republicans. It included a video showing a Republican campaign volunteer standing near a member of Montgomery’s team and asked viewers, “What’s going on here?”
Montgomery’s campaign manager quickly pushed back on the accusation. He stated that the video had been misrepresented and explained that the Republican volunteer was simply helping an elderly man from Montgomery’s campaign team put up campaign signs.
“So rather than the narrative you made up,” the campaign manager wrote in a response online, “it was actually a touching moment where someone reached across political lines to lend help to a fellow resident.”
According to the campaign manager, his comment responding to the accusation was deleted twice from the Democratic Committee’s Facebook page. He said screenshots of the exchanges were then sent to leadership within the state Democratic Party.
Meanwhile, LaCroix ran a relatively disciplined and focused campaign that concentrated on local governance issues such as community services, county management, and neighborhood concerns. A Woodbridge resident for about a decade, she was already familiar to many voters in the district. She previously ran for the same seat in 2023 but lost to Franklin, receiving roughly 37 percent of the vote in that race.
The Woodbridge District itself has a long history of Democratic representation. Franklin won the seat in 2019 in an unusual contest after Democrat Frank Principi launched a write-in campaign following his defeat in the Democratic primary.
Principi had earlier served three consecutive terms representing the district from 2007 through 2015. Before his tenure, Democrat Hilda Barg represented Woodbridge for roughly two decades, beginning in 1988.
Given that long Democratic lineage, LaCroix’s victory represents a significant political shift in the district. The combination of controversy surrounding the Democratic nominee, internal party disputes, and a late write-in challenge fractured the traditional Democratic coalition and ultimately opened a path for a Republican candidate to capture the seat for the first time in nearly four decades.
