Karina Lipsman Joins Crowded Race for Late Democrat’s Seat in Virginia
Elizabeth Elkind | June 4, 2025
(Fox News) — A survivor of Soviet Union-era communism is jumping into the race to replace late Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va.
Karina Lipsman told Fox News Digital that her family fled the USSR when she was a child and that her childhood in the U.S. began with a single mother raising her in low-income housing in Baltimore.
“We ran from socialism and toward the American dream. We came here because America stood for freedom, hard work and the chance to build something better,” said Lipsman, a Republican.
“We didn’t speak English when we arrived. But I worked hard, kept my head down and earned every step to get to where I am today. I became a citizen at 18. I put myself through undergrad and grad school.”
Lipsman, who currently works for the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, also praised President Donald Trump and said she believed the country was headed in a similar direction to the situation her family fled.
“We have had an expanding government, a shrinking middle class and a growing dependence on the state. We’ve been sliding away from what made this country great,” she said. “Thankfully, we have a disruptor in Donald Trump who is fighting the status quo, but he needs more allies because the political class is too focused on fame, clicks and climbing ladders.”
Lipsman is the latest candidate to jump into the race for Virginia’s 11th Congressional District, a solidly Democratic portion of the Washington, D.C., suburbs.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Tuesday that the special election to fill Connolly’s seat will be on Sept. 9.
