Independent Candidate Not On Ballot In 11th District Race

FAIRFAX, VA — An independent candidate not affiliated with either mainstream political party who said he is running for the 11th Congressional District seat left vacant by the death of Rep. Gerry Connolly is not on the ballot.

Friday at 5 p.m. was the filing deadline for any independent candidates running in the race for the vacant 11th District Congressional seat. As of Monday, only the Democratic Party and Republican Party candidates are on the ballot for the Sept. 9 special election.

In June, Chandrashekar Tamirisa, former chief development/technology/growth officer at DigiTran Technologies Corporation in Herndon, declared his candidacy as an independent in the Congressional race.

In an email to Patch on Monday, Andrea M. Gaines, external affairs manager at the Virginia Department of Elections, wrote: "The Department of Elections did not receive any ballot access paperwork for Chandra Tamirisa."

On Monday afternoon, Tamirisa posted an open letter on his Facebook page to Lyn Lister of the League of Women Voters of the Fairfax Area, which is planning a candidate forum.

In the letter, Tamirisa verified that only Democrat James Walkinshaw and Republican Stewart Whitson were on the official ballot. They each won their respective party's primaries on June 28.

"The party candidates in the partisan primaries and now those on the ballot do not have any understanding of the state they are representing," Tamirisa said in the letter. "Very sad state of affairs in Virginia and American politics."

Tamirisa ended his letter by saying that he would write his own name down on the ballot on election day.

Related:

• Democrats Announce Winner Of 11th District Firehouse Primary
• Stewart Whitson Wins GOP Canvass In 11th District Race
• Virginia Congressman Dies After Cancer Diagnosis
• VA Congressman To Retire As Cancer Returns Following Treatment

"United States of America was founded by genius. Intellectuals like me," Tamirisa wrote. "This is who we need to dig the country out of the hole we are in as a society, polity, and economy. This is what I will keep doing. But it shall not belong to some career bureaucrat or career politician."

In April, incumbent U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly announced he would not seek reelection in 2026 due to health concerns.

Last November, Connolly revealed that he'd been diagnosed with esophageal cancer and was receiving chemotherapy and immunotherapy treatment. However, the cancer returned and the congressman's family announced he had died on May 21.

The special election will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 9, with early voting beginning on July 25.