Tom Perriello, the last Democrat to represent Virginia’s 5th Congressional District, has announced that he plans to challenge Rep. John McGuire for the seat in the 2026 midterm elections.
The theme of Perriello’s campaign is “getting down prices, getting wages up,” he said during a phone interview Tuesday. The Charlottesville-area Democrat pointed out the current high cost of living and the effect of tariffs on consumers in his announcement.
“It is not right that Virginians are working harder and harder just to afford the rising cost of food, electricity, and health care,” he said. “You know that I’m going to show up in every community, listen, and fight with everything I got to make sure your priorities are my priorities in Congress.”
Perriello was born and raised in Albemarle County and has worked for the last 25 years as a diplomat, teacher and executive of nonprofit organizations. He was elected to represent the 5th District in 2008 on the wave that saw former President Barack Obama win Virginia as the first Democrat to do so since 1964, when former President Lyndon Johnson beat Republican Barry Goldwater in a landslide.
Perriello lost to Republican former Rep. Robert Hurt in 2010. He attributed his loss to backlash to his vote in support of the Affordable Care Act in March of that year.
“Over the last 15 years, people have really come to appreciate [the ACA],” he said. “A number of people have come up to me across Central and Southside Virginia to thank me for that vote and tell me the difference it’s made in their families. I think it’s something that’s aged well and I think that’s what happens when you try to do politics with integrity.”
He added that he plans to work with stakeholders across the state, regardless of their political affiliation, to tackle the affordability crisis faced by many Virginians.
“I think we can find common ground on these issues,” he said.
Perriello’s announcement leads at least one Democrat to withdraw
At least six other candidates have filed to run as Democrats for Virginia’s 5th Congressional District, according to data compiled by the Federal Elections Commission, setting up a primary election in June for a district that could be redrawn. Those Democratic candidates include Mike Pruitt, Paul Riley, Adele Stichel, Suzanne Krzyzanowski and Robert Tracinski.
Kate Zabriskie, a Democrat who had filed paperwork with the FEC to run in the 5th District, decided to withdraw from the race on Tuesday after Perriello announced his campaign. Zabriskie, a business owner from Lynchburg, told Cardinal News that her rationale for running “evaporated” when Perriello entered the race.
“I want to get out of his way and not be a distraction,” she said. “We’ll see if others reach the same conclusion.”
One Republican, former Rep. Bob Good of Farmville, had also filed paperwork to run with the FEC in August 2024, though he has yet to commit to running again.
Good represented the 5th District for two terms and lost by a margin of 366 votes, following a recount, to McGuire in a bitter 2024 primary that threatened to tear the district’s Republican Party apart.
Asked Tuesday if he will challenge McGuire in a primary election, Good said he plans to keep his options open and wants to see what the congressional district maps could look like if a redistricting effort is successful before he commits to running again.
Redistricting push leaves one large question: What will the district look like?
General Assembly Democrats have said that the goal of the redistricting effort is to reduce the number of Republican-held congressional seats after several Republican-controlled states have redistricted to lessen the number of Democratic-held congressional seats, starting with Texas, followed by Missouri and North Carolina. Democratic-controlled California passed its referendum to do so on Nov. 4.
The Democratic-controlled Virginia General Assembly introduced and passed a constitutional amendment to do so during a special session in late October.
The General Assembly will need to again pass the amendment during the 2026 session, and then the measure will go before voters, who will have the final say in a referendum. It’s unclear what the new 5th Congressional District could look like — official maps for redistricting have not yet been made available.
Virginia Democrats have reiterated the effort after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Texas’ redrawn Congressional maps. A number of Virginia’s Democratic state senators responded to the ruling by saying “Full steam ahead,” in social media posts.
Virginia’s 5th District, as it is currently drawn, is considered a Republican stronghold. It has been represented by a Republican in Congress since Perriello was defeated by Hurt in 2010. McGuire beat his Democratic opponent, Gloria Tinsley Witt, by 15 percentage points in the 2024 election, after he defeated Good earlier that year.
Perriello said he plans to fight for people in Central, Southside and Southwest Virginia during his campaign, regardless of what the district map could look like.
“We see people caring about the same things whether you head north, south, east or west from Charlottesville — which is that people are paying too much for housing and health care and child care and wages haven’t gone up in a generation,” he said. “We need to be standing up for working folks to get a fair shot.”