By Michael Hevener
Suhas Subramanyam Won VA-10 With Just 52 Percent. Dave Beckwith Says Northern Virginia Is Ready for a Different Direction.
Virginia’s 10th Congressional District looks safe for Democrats.
The Cook Political Report rates the district Solid Democratic and gives it a D+6 Partisan Voting Index.
But there is another number worth remembering:
52.1 percent.
That is the share of the vote Democrat Suhas Subramanyam received when he won the seat in 2024.
Subramanyam is now seeking his second term against Republican Dave T. Beckwith and independent Ahsen Mujeeb Malik.
The district includes all of Loudoun, Fauquier and Rappahannock counties, the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park, and portions of Prince William and Fairfax counties.
That creates an unusual political coalition.
VA-10 contains rapidly growing Northern Virginia suburbs, some of the wealthiest communities in America, a massive technology sector, thousands of federal employees and contractors, and rural communities increasingly concerned about what Northern Virginia’s growth will mean for them.
It is also home to what may be the defining economic and infrastructure issue of Northern Virginia’s next decade:
Data centers.
Subramanyam argues that his first term has demonstrated the value of having a representative focused on affordability, federal workers, technology and regulating the extraordinary growth occurring across Northern Virginia.
Beckwith argues that the same growth is producing higher electricity costs, infrastructure pressure and an affordability crisis that requires a different approach.
Malik argues that neither major party adequately represents the district.
Cook says the seat is safe.
The 2024 results suggest Republicans should at least make Democrats prove it.
THE INCUMBENT
Suhas Subramanyam is still relatively new to Congress, but he is not new to politics.
Before winning VA-10 in 2024, he served in both the Virginia House of Delegates and Virginia Senate.
Earlier in his career, he worked in the Obama White House advising on technology policy.
That background fits a congressional district increasingly shaped by technology.
Subramanyam lives in Ashburn and has made affordability one of the central themes of his reelection campaign.
He argues that Northern Virginia families are struggling with housing, groceries, health care and other everyday expenses.
He also presents himself as a defender of the region’s federal workforce.
VA-10 contains tens of thousands of federal employees and government contractors, making reductions in federal employment an economic issue as well as a philosophical debate over the size of government.
Subramanyam has criticized the Trump administration’s federal workforce reductions and says workers who were improperly removed should be restored.
But he also acknowledges that Northern Virginia should develop a stronger private-sector economy so the region is not excessively dependent on federal employment.
That is an important concession.
The federal government will always be a major part of Northern Virginia’s economy.
It should not have to be the entire foundation.
THE CHALLENGER
Dave Beckwith has spent most of his adult life in national service rather than elected office.
He served 30 years in the United States Air Force, retiring as a colonel.
He later served as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon.
His work involved some of the country’s most complicated national-security programs, including space systems, nuclear defense, missile defense and intelligence.
Beckwith has lived in Loudoun County for approximately 17 years.
He is also not making his first attempt at Congress.
He sought the Republican nomination in VA-10 in 2022, when Hung Cao ultimately won the party’s ranked-choice nomination contest.
Four years later, Republican voters selected Beckwith to challenge Subramanyam.
Beckwith describes himself as a conservative, but much of his campaign is centered less on national partisan warfare than on issues immediately visible in Northern Virginia:
Electric bills.
Data centers.
Transmission lines.
Housing.
Workforce development.
Energy.
Those issues give Beckwith an opportunity to make a Republican argument specifically tailored to VA-10 rather than simply importing the national Republican message into Northern Virginia.
Whether enough voters are willing to listen is the challenge.
THE INDEPENDENT
Ahsen Mujeeb Malik gives voters a third choice.
Malik is a middle-school teacher, father of two and political newcomer.
His campaign has emphasized issues including abortion, data centers and climate policy.
Malik does not have the financial infrastructure of either major-party candidate.
But independent candidates can matter even when they are unlikely to win.
In a district where the 2024 congressional race was decided by fewer than five percentage points, even a relatively small independent vote can affect the political arithmetic.
Malik should therefore not be treated as an afterthought.
Voters deserve to know what he believes, where he differs from the major-party candidates and what kind of coalition he is attempting to build.
FOLLOW THE MONEY
The financial advantage belongs decisively to Subramanyam.
Federal Election Commission reports covering activity through July 15 show Subramanyam’s campaign with $1,170,445.74 in receipts during the 2025-2026 cycle and $582,811.94 cash on hand.
Beckwith reported $107,333.72 in receipts and $54,260.44 cash on hand.
That means Subramanyam had more than ten times Beckwith’s total receipts and more than ten times his cash available at the end of the reporting period.
The sources of that money are also worth examining.
Subramanyam reported $785,369.44 in individual contributions and $320,985 from other political committees.
Beckwith reported $55,333.72 in individual contributions and $2,000 from other political committees.
His campaign also reported a $50,000 candidate loan.
The financial disparity is substantial.
Subramanyam has the fundraising network of an incumbent member of Congress.
Beckwith is attempting to build the infrastructure necessary to compete across an expensive Northern Virginia media market.
Malik has registered as a federal candidate, but the FEC does not yet display a comparable financial summary for his campaign.
The next quarterly reports, covering activity through September 30, are due October 15.
The Commonwealth Ledger will update these figures before publication.
DATA CENTER ALLEY
No issue is more closely identified with VA-10 than data centers.
Loudoun County is often described as the data center capital of the world.
Those facilities are essential to cloud computing, artificial intelligence and the modern digital economy.
They also consume enormous amounts of electricity and require substantial transmission infrastructure.
The debate is no longer simply whether data centers create economic growth.
It is whether Northern Virginia can continue absorbing their growth without imposing unacceptable costs on surrounding communities.
Subramanyam says it cannot.
He supports a local moratorium on additional data-center development in his community and has proposed a national strategy for determining where future facilities should be located.
His argument is that data centers should be placed where the electrical grid can support them and that communities should have a meaningful voice in development decisions.
He also argues that residential customers should not be forced to absorb dramatically higher utility costs created by large industrial users.
Beckwith approaches the problem somewhat differently.
He argues that communities already living beside data centers deserve greater protection.
He has proposed federal setback standards intended to prevent massive facilities from being built immediately beside homes.
He has also proposed tax relief for residents living within two miles of a data center to compensate for effects on surrounding properties.
The candidates therefore agree on something important:
The status quo is not good enough.
Their disagreement is over what should replace it.
Subramanyam emphasizes slowing and planning future development.
Beckwith emphasizes protecting residents while expanding the energy supply necessary to support economic growth.
ENERGY AND THE ELECTRIC BILL
Beckwith makes energy one of the central arguments of his campaign.
His position is straightforward:
Virginia needs to produce more of the electricity Virginia consumes.
He supports an all-of-the-above energy strategy that includes nuclear power, natural gas and solar.
He particularly emphasizes next-generation nuclear technology.
Beckwith argues that increasing in-state generation would reduce dependence on electricity imported from neighboring states and decrease the need for some long-distance transmission infrastructure.
He also argues that rapidly increasing data-center demand is beginning to appear in residential electricity bills.
Subramanyam agrees that ratepayers should not be forced to finance the infrastructure demanded by enormous data centers.
He has also opposed utility arrangements that he believes could increase costs for consumers.
The difference is largely one of emphasis.
Subramanyam focuses more heavily on controlling the location and growth of data centers.
Beckwith focuses more heavily on increasing the supply of reliable energy.
Northern Virginia probably needs both.
If electricity demand continues rising, Virginia cannot regulate its way into additional megawatts.
Someone still has to generate the power.
At the same time, producing more electricity does not mean every proposed data center belongs in every community.
The challenge is balancing economic growth with property rights, affordability and grid reliability.
THE TRANSMISSION-LINE FIGHT
For many residents, the data-center debate becomes real when a transmission line appears near their neighborhood.
Beckwith has specifically opposed proposed transmission lines affecting western Loudoun and Loudoun Valley Estates.
His argument is that producing more electricity closer to where it is consumed could reduce the need for some of the infrastructure crossing communities.
Subramanyam supports permitting reform but warns that streamlining federal rules should not become an excuse to override local communities.
That is a useful distinction.
America needs infrastructure.
But the people living beside that infrastructure are not obstacles on a planning map.
Property rights matter.
Community input matters.
And government should be extremely cautious about asking ordinary homeowners to absorb the costs of infrastructure built primarily to serve some of the largest corporations in the world.
THE PRICE OF THE AMERICAN DREAM
Housing affordability is becoming one of Northern Virginia’s defining problems.
Both major-party candidates acknowledge it.
Their solutions differ.
Beckwith has proposed allowing homeowners to carry, or “port,” a low-interest mortgage from one house to another.
His argument is that millions of homeowners who secured low mortgage rates before interest rates increased now feel trapped in their homes.
Selling means surrendering the old rate and financing the next house at a substantially higher one.
That discourages people from putting homes on the market and reduces supply.
Beckwith argues that allowing some form of mortgage portability could loosen that market.
Subramanyam points toward a different set of tools.
He supports reducing duplicative housing regulations and expanding programs that help communities increase housing supply.
He has also proposed a dedicated savings mechanism to help first-time homebuyers accumulate money for a down payment and other expenses.
The candidates agree on the diagnosis.
Young families increasingly cannot afford the same communities in which they grew up.
That is not merely a housing problem.
It is an economic warning.
A community eventually becomes unsustainable if its teachers, police officers, firefighters, young professionals and tradesmen cannot afford to live there.
THE FUTURE OF WORK
Northern Virginia’s economy is changing.
Artificial intelligence will accelerate that change.
Federal workforce reductions could accelerate it further.
Both Subramanyam and Beckwith argue that the traditional assumption that every successful young person needs a four-year college degree is outdated.
Subramanyam supports allowing greater flexibility in the use of 529 education accounts for skills training and professional certifications.
Beckwith emphasizes apprenticeships, licensing and career and technical education, particularly for trades such as electrical and plumbing work.
During their September debate, Beckwith explicitly agreed with expanding the use of 529 accounts for trade schools and retraining.
That agreement is worth noting.
Not every issue in Congress should require a partisan war.
America desperately needs skilled workers.
A student who becomes a master electrician, plumber, welder or technician has not failed to attend college.
He or she has entered a profession the country increasingly needs.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Both candidates also agree that artificial intelligence requires a federal role.
Subramanyam has made technology policy one of his congressional specialties.
He has promoted legislation establishing guardrails for advanced AI models and independent verification of safety.
He has also raised concerns about children’s exposure to increasingly powerful AI systems.
Beckwith agrees that federal standards are preferable to a patchwork of conflicting state and local rules.
But he emphasizes the need to protect consumers without preventing innovation.
That balance matters.
AI regulation written too slowly may arrive after the damage is done.
AI regulation written too aggressively may hand technological leadership to China.
Congress needs enough humility to recognize both dangers.
IMMIGRATION
Subramanyam supports comprehensive immigration reform.
He supports the Dream Act and a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers.
He also argues for greater oversight of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and has criticized enforcement actions that he believes have gone too far.
Beckwith approaches immigration from a more enforcement-oriented perspective.
His broader campaign emphasizes border security, public safety and the rule of law.
VA-10 makes the immigration debate particularly important.
Northern Virginia has been transformed by legal immigration.
Immigrant families have built businesses, entered professions, served in government and reshaped communities across Loudoun, Prince William and Fairfax.
That success is an argument for immigration.
It is not an argument for ignoring immigration law.
A serious immigration policy should be capable of defending both principles:
America should welcome people who come legally seeking opportunity.
America should also control its border and enforce the laws governing entry into the country.
Those ideas should not be contradictory.
FEDERAL WORKERS
Subramanyam has made protecting federal employees a major part of his campaign.
That is unsurprising in this district.
Federal employment is not simply a government statistic in Northern Virginia.
It is the mortgage payment next door.
It is the family at the grocery store.
It is the customer supporting a local restaurant.
Subramanyam argues that the Trump administration’s workforce reductions have harmed both public servants and the regional economy.
He wants workers restored when positions were improperly eliminated and opposes moving federal agencies out of the region.
But he also says Northern Virginia needs more private-sector employment so the region is not overly dependent on Washington.
That second point deserves greater attention.
Republicans are right to demand an efficient federal government.
Democrats are right that eliminating a job is not the same thing as eliminating waste.
Government reform should identify unnecessary programs, duplication and bureaucracy.
It should not begin with the assumption that every federal employee is unnecessary.
The long-term answer for Northern Virginia should be a federal government that is efficient and accountable alongside a private economy strong enough that the region does not rise and fall with every change in presidential administration.
ABORTION
Subramanyam supports protecting access to abortion and reproductive health care.
That position aligns him with the Democratic Party and places him on the opposite side of The Commonwealth Ledger on one of the most consequential moral and constitutional issues facing Virginia voters in 2026.
Beckwith’s broader conservative platform places him closer philosophically to voters seeking restrictions on abortion.
But his exact position should be evaluated from his own documented statements rather than assumed from his party affiliation.
The same standard applies to Malik.
Virginia voters deserve exact answers on an issue this important.
VIRGINIA’S THREE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
The 2026 public-media candidate questionnaire asked the VA-10 candidates about Virginia’s three proposed constitutional amendments.
Subramanyam answered the questionnaire.
As of the questionnaire’s October 5 publication, Beckwith and Malik had not provided responses.
The Commonwealth Ledger will not invent positions for candidates who have not provided them.
We oppose all three amendments.
But our opposition does not give us permission to assume that Beckwith or Malik agrees with us.
Before publication, we will include any direct and documented positions the candidates provide.
If they do not provide them, readers will be told exactly that.
THE DEBATE
Subramanyam and Beckwith did something voters should expect from congressional candidates.
They debated.
On September 22, the Loudoun Chamber of Commerce brought the two major-party candidates together in Leesburg.
They disagreed over data centers, energy, housing and the proper role of government.
They also found areas of agreement on workforce training and the need for federal AI standards.
Then something happened that has become increasingly rare in American politics.
They were asked what they admired about each other.
Beckwith praised Subramanyam’s family and immigrant story.
Subramanyam praised Beckwith’s three decades of military service.
That moment did not erase their disagreements.
It demonstrated that political disagreement does not require contempt.
The Commonwealth Ledger believes voters benefit when candidates stand beside each other, defend their ideas and allow those ideas to be tested.
Both candidates deserve credit for doing so.
THE 52-PERCENT INCUMBENT
Suhas Subramanyam received 52.09 percent of the vote in 2024.
That is a victory.
It is not an overwhelming mandate.
The Cook Political Report nevertheless rates VA-10 Solid Democratic and gives the district a D+6 Partisan Voting Index.
There are good reasons.
The district has moved substantially toward Democrats over the past decade.
Republicans therefore have a narrow but legitimate argument.
They do not need to persuade VA-10 to become a Republican district overnight.
They need to persuade enough voters who supported Democrats in recent elections that this particular Republican offers a better approach to the problems immediately affecting their communities.
For Beckwith, that means making the election about electricity bills, data centers, housing, energy production, national security and affordability.
For Subramanyam, it means convincing voters that his first term has earned him another.
THE LEDGER’S ANALYSIS
Suhas Subramanyam is a serious candidate.
He has relevant experience in technology policy.
He understands the data-center issue.
He has demonstrated a willingness to acknowledge that Northern Virginia needs a larger private-sector economy even while defending federal workers.
His positions on workforce training and AI also show areas where bipartisan policy is possible.
And unlike some incumbents elsewhere in Virginia, he stood on a debate stage and defended his record.
Those things deserve credit.
But Dave Beckwith offers a compelling alternative.
His 30 years in the Air Force and service at the Pentagon give him significant national-security and management experience.
More importantly for this district, his campaign is focused on issues residents can see outside their windows and on their utility bills.
Northern Virginia needs more reliable energy.
It needs protection for communities affected by data centers and transmission infrastructure.
It needs housing that younger families can afford.
It needs career paths that do not require every student to take on four years of college debt.
And it needs an economy capable of thriving even when the federal government contracts.
Beckwith’s all-of-the-above energy approach is particularly persuasive.
Northern Virginia cannot simultaneously demand enormous amounts of electricity for data centers, artificial intelligence and economic growth while refusing to build reliable generation.
Subramanyam is right that development needs limits and community involvement.
Beckwith is right that the region also needs more power.
The strongest policy would incorporate both principles.
The larger philosophical difference comes down to government.
Subramanyam generally looks to federal policy, regulation and government programs to solve economic problems.
Beckwith places greater emphasis on energy production, private-sector growth, market incentives and limiting unnecessary government interference.
The Commonwealth Ledger believes Beckwith’s approach offers the stronger path.
THE LEDGER’S CHOICE
VA-10 is not a naturally Republican district.
Dave Beckwith begins this race as the underdog.
That should not determine an endorsement.
Suhas Subramanyam has represented the district seriously and deserves credit for engaging his opponent directly.
He understands technology, recognizes the pressures created by data centers and speaks credibly about the economic anxiety affecting Northern Virginia families.
But elections are choices between competing governing philosophies.
Dave Beckwith brings three decades of military service, senior Pentagon experience and a practical understanding of the national-security challenges facing the country.
His campaign’s focus on energy abundance, affordability, housing, workforce development and private-sector economic growth addresses some of the most immediate problems facing VA-10.
His support for an all-of-the-above energy strategy is particularly important in a district sitting at the center of America’s artificial-intelligence and data-center revolution.
Economic growth requires energy.
Energy requires infrastructure.
And the costs of that infrastructure should not simply be transferred to families who happened to live in Northern Virginia before the data centers arrived.
Beckwith also deserves credit for recognizing something American politics badly needs to recover:
The person standing on the other side of a debate stage is an opponent, not an enemy.
VA-10 voters may disagree with him.
They should take him seriously.
The Commonwealth Ledger does.
For Virginia’s 10th Congressional District, our choice is Dave Beckwith.
