Soros Backed Prosecutors in Northern Virginia Win Democrat Primaries for Re-election
Leftist prosecutors in three large Virginia counties swept their Democratic primaries Tuesday night in Albemarle, Arlington, Fairfax, and Loudoun counties.
Dehghani-Tafti took 57 percent of the Democratic primary in Arlington County, according to unofficial results, versus 43 percent for Katcher. Biberaj won 56 percent against her challenger, Elizabeth Lancaster, a former public defender. And Fairfax’s Descano — the chief prosecutor in a county of over 1 million residents — captured 55 percent of the vote against challenger Ed Nuttall.
The three counties all lean Democratic, though Biberaj only narrowly won her general election in 2019 against her Republican opponent. . . .
Albemarle County commonwealth’s attorney candidate Jim Hingeley also won his race.
George Soros contributed a large amount of money in these races. In these four races, Soros gave about $2 million.
Among the candidates backed by Soros was Buta Biberaj, the Democrat running in the Loudon County commonwealth attorney race. Biberaj received nearly $850,000 from the Justice and Public Safety PAC, a D.C.-based committee financed by Soros. The PAC was by far the largest donor to the campaign.
Biberaj defeated the recently appointed Republican commonwealth attorney Nicole Wittmann 51.17 percent to 48.73 percent. Biberaj also received $18,000 in in-kind donations for canvassing and phone banking services from New Virginia Majority, a civic engagement and issue advocacy group that received $75,000 from Soros’s Justice and Public Safety PAC earlier this year.
Steve Descano, the liberal candidate in Fairfax County, was the recipient of $600,000 from Soros’s PAC. Descano defeated independent candidate Jonathan Fahey 61.34 percent to 38.38 percent. Descano expressed interest in putting together a coalition of prosecutors to lobby for progressive legislation following the elections. Soros’s PAC was the most generous donor to his campaign.
The PAC also gave a $5,000 donation to Albemarle County commonwealth’s attorney candidate Jim Hingeley, who won his election by a 56.26 percent to 43.56 percent margin over Robert Tracci. Hingeley received most of his funds—$114,000—from Sonjia Smith, a Virginia Democratic megadonor who is married to Michael Bills, founder of the Charlottesville-based investment firm Blue Asset Management LLC. The couple has combined to pour $3 million into Virginia efforts this election cycle. . . .
