Eugene Vindman, whose Jewish immigrant story was featured in Trump’s first impeachment trial, wins Virginia primary

By JTA 19 June 2024, 6:05 pm

3 Edit

Eugene Vindman, Democratic candidate for Virginia's 7th Congressional District, attends a news conference to urge the US House to pass the Senate National Security Aid Package, which includes aid to Ukraine, on March 13, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images via JTA)

A former White House official whose Jewish Ukrainian origins played a prominent role in former US president Donald Trump’s first impeachment hearings has won a Democratic congressional primary in Virginia.

Eugene Vindman has won the Democratic nomination in the US state’s 7th District, which stretches south from Washington’s Virginia exurbs to the state’s center. Vindman came to prominence in 2020 when Trump forced him and his twin brother Alexander out of their jobs as National Security Council staffers.

Both men were officers, and on loan to the White House from the military. Trump had them in his sights after Alexander Vindman in 2019 testified to Congress about the contents of a phone call from Trump to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in which Trump sought to leverage aid to Ukraine in exchange for dirt on Joe Biden, who was gearing up to face Trump in the 2020 election.

The phone call led to Trump’s first impeachment; he was acquitted in the Senate. The Vindman twins had arrived as children from Ukraine when it was part of the Soviet Union. Vindman’s role in the impeachment drama helped elevate his candidacy to being by far the best funded.

Vindman hopes to replace Rep. Abigail Spanberger, who is running for governor. The 7th district is a swing district and he now faces Derrick Anderson, a former Green Beret who had the backing of the Republican party establishment.