Virginia's 86th House of Delegates district elects one of 100 seats in the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two houses of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbe ...

, the lower house of the state's

bicameral legislature Bicameralism is a type of legislature that is divided into two separate assemblies, chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature. Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism, in which all members deliberate and vote as a single ...

. The district was established in 1982 and represents parts of Loudoun and Fairfax County. It was represented by Democrat

Ibraheem Samirah Ibraheem S. Samirah (born August 20, 1991) is an American politician. He served as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from the 86th district from 2019 to 2022. He was defeated for re-election in the Democratic primary by Irene Shin i ...

until

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, when Irene Shin won the primary and general elections.

Geography

The district includes an eastern portion of

Loudoun County Loudoun County () is in the northern part of the Virginia, Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. In 2020, the census returned a population of 420,959, making it Virginia's third-most populous county. The county seat is Leesburg, Virgi ...

and a western part of

Fairfax County Fairfax County, officially the County of Fairfax, is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. With a population of 1,150,309 as of the 2020 census, it is the most populous county in Virginia, the most populous jurisdiction in the Washington ...

. Loudoun's section includes two precincts, both in Sterling Park, while 13 of the district's precincts are in Fairfax County, including in Herndon, Oak Hill and

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. This area is roughly between

Route 50 The following highways are numbered 50: International * European route E50 Brazil * BR-050 Canada * Alberta Highway 50 * Manitoba Highway 50 * Newfoundland and Labrador Route 50 * Ontario Highway 50 (Also referred to as Peel Regional Road 5 ...

north, Route 7, and

Fairfax County Parkway The Fairfax County Parkway, numbered State Route 286 (SR 286, formerly SR 7100), is a primary State highways in Virginia, state highway in the U.S. state of Virginia, acting as an Limited-access highway, expressway in Fairfax Coun ...

Electoral history

From 2002 to 2016, the 86th District was represented by Republican Tom Rust. In 2013, he was challenged by Democrat

Jennifer Boysko Jennifer Barton Boysko (born November 16, 1966) is an American politician from the Commonwealth of Virginia. She represents the 38th district in the Virginia Senate. Previously, she represented the 86th district in the Virginia House of Delega ...

, with Rust narrowly prevailing, winning by just 32 votes. Boysko ran again in the next cycle (2015) and Rust announced he would retire rather than seek reelection. Boysko instead faced Republican Raul “Danny” Vargas and Paul Brubaker, who ran as an independent. Vargas received ''

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s endorsement and initially had support from the Latino Victory Fund, but the latter rescinded its support after learning Vargas did not support an

Obama Administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. Obama, a Democrat from Illinois, took office following his victory over Republican nomine ...

immigration policy offering protection from deportation and temporary work permits to some parents of American citizens ( DAPA). Boysko, a

pro-choice Abortion-rights movements, also self-styled as pro-choice movements, are movements that advocate for legal access to induced abortion services, including elective abortion. They seek to represent and support women who wish to terminate their ...

candidate who supported the

Medicaid expansion Under the public healthcare policy of the United States, some people have incomes too high to qualify in their state of residence for Medicaid, the public health insurance plan for those with limited resources, but too low to qualify for the pr ...

, won the election, receiving 54% of the vote to Vargas's 40%. The 86th district seat was vacated again when Boysko was elected to the state senate in January 2019. prompting a February 19 special election. Dentist

won the Democratic nomination in a

firehouse primary A firehouse primary, also called a firehouse caucus or "unassembled caucus", is a term sometimes used in the United States to describe a primary election run by a political party, not a government, to select the party's candidates for a later gene ...

on January 12, and

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veteran Gregg Nelson received the Republican nomination in a mass meeting held January 22. On January 25, former Herndon town council member Connie H. Hutchinson announced her candidacy as an independent, citing her opposition to a bill to lift restriction on abortion as well as concerns about proposals to raise the minimum wage. Samirah won the contest with 59.5% of the vote and was sworn in the next day, becoming the youngest member of the state legislature. On February 4, 2021, Irene Shin, the executive director of The Virginia Civic Engagement Table, announced that she is running for this seat in the June 8, 2021 Democratic Primary. Shin defeated Samirah in the June 2021 primary and in the November 2, 2021 general election, Republican Julie Perry, with 65.4% of the vote.

District officeholders

References

External links

District 86 electoral history
{{Navbox VAHseDist 86 Government in Loudoun County, Virginia Government in Fairfax County, Virginia