WASHINGTON — Democrat James Walkinshaw won Tuesday’s special election for Virginia’s 11th District to fill the unexpired term of his former boss, the late Democratic Rep. Gerald E. Connolly.

Walkinshaw, a Fairfax County supervisor, was leading Republican Stewart Whitson, an Army veteran and former FBI official, 75% to 25%, when The Associated Press called the race at 7:36 p.m. Eastern time.

Walkinshaw’s win was expected in the deep-blue Northern Virginia district, which encompasses the Washington, D.C., suburbs heavily populated by federal workers. Democrat Kamala Harris carried the seat by 34 points last fall, according to calculations by The Downballot.

Walkinshaw comes to Congress deeply influenced by Connolly, whom he first met in 2006 and served as his chief of staff in the House for more than a decade.

Connolly endorsed Walkinshaw to succeed him in May, shortly after announcing he would not seek another term and just a few weeks before he died of esophageal cancer. Walkinshaw parlayed that support into winning the Democratic nomination in June, defeating nine opponents in a party-run “firehouse primary.”

Like Connolly did 16 years ago, Walkinshaw comes to Congress after a stint on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. In that role, he focused on housing and transportation issues, and he also chaired the Virginia Rail Express board as well as the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board.

As Connolly’s chief of staff, Walkinshaw gained substantial experience on the House Oversight Committee, where his boss served for his entire congressional tenure, including as the panel’s top Democrat in his final term. Connolly’s priorities while on Oversight included advocating on behalf of federal workers, which Walkinshaw says he plans to continue amid sweeping job and funding cuts to federal agencies under President Donald Trump’s second administration.

“Obviously, we’re in a very difficult time right now for federal workers, 80,000 of whom are here in Fairfax,” he told CQ Roll Call in an interview before the election. “So I intend, both in the short term but just as importantly over the long term, to be an advocate for federal workers in terms of pay and benefits and how they’re treated in the workplace.”

Walkinshaw touted his working relationships with congressional lawmakers established during his time on Capitol Hill and as a local government official.

“I’ve been around the Virginia congressional delegation for a long time,” he said. “[Sen.] Mark Warner, [Sen.] Tim Kaine, [Rep.] Don Beyer, folks that I’ve known for decades and I definitely count as mentors and will rely on.”

Once Walkinshaw is sworn in, House Republicans will hold 219 seats to 213 for Democrats, with three vacancies that will be filled by upcoming special elections.

A special election in Arizona’s 7th District will take place later this month to elect a successor to the late Democratic Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva, who died in March from complications of his cancer treatment. There will also be special elections in Texas’ 18th District for the seat of the late Democratic Rep. Sylvester Turner and in Tennessee’s 7th District, where the Republican incumbent, Mark E. Green, resigned in July for a private sector job.

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