Election 2024: Derrick Anderson, Eugene Vindman to debate on Oct. 2 at UMW

The University of Mary Washington will host a public political debate between candidates for Virginia’s Seventh District congressional seat on Wednesday, Oct. 2, at 7 p.m.

Derrick Anderson, a Republican, and Eugene Vindman, a Democrat, will face off in George Washington Hall’s Dodd Auditorium.

The debate is hosted by UMW’s Student Government Association, and co-sponsored by the Fredericksburg Regional Chamber of Commerce, The Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star and the League of Women Voters of the Fredericksburg Area.

The event is free and admission tickets are not required. Viewing will also be available via Zoom.

UMW Professor of Political Science Stephen Farnsworth, who serves as director of the University’s Center for Leadership and Media Studies, will moderate the debate. He will join fellow UMW Professor of Political Science Rosalyn Cooperman, who chairs the department; WFVA Radio News Director Ted Schubel; and Jake Womer, managing editor of The Free Lance-Star, in asking questions of the candidates.

Audience members may submit questions for consideration before the event begins.

Anderson, of Spotsylvania County, earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Virginia Tech and a juris doctorate from Georgetown University Law Center. He served in the U.S. Army, including as a Special Forces Green Beret, from 2006 to 2014, completing five deployments to Afghanistan, Bahrain, Jordan, Israel and Lebanon.

He also has worked on civil and criminal cases as a clerk for two federal judges and in the White House during the administration of former President Donald Trump in the Office of National Drug Control Policy. He currently serves as a major in the Army National Guard.

Vindman was born in Ukraine and attended public school in Brooklyn. He earned a bachelor’s degree from SUNY Binghamton, a master’s degree from Central Michigan University and a juris doctorate from the University of Georgia.

Vindman is a retired colonel who served in the U.S. Army from 1997 to 2022, including in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps, where he traveled across the country and worked as a prosecutor. Vindman also served as a legal advisor for the National Security Council.

He lives in Woodbridge with his wife, Cindy. The couple has two children.