Former CIA officer enters crowded primary to challenge Beyer in Virginia's 8th District
Marine veteran Adam Dunigan says he resigned from the agency to fight what he calls an authoritarian project
Adam Dunigan, a former CIA case officer and Marine combat veteran, formally announced his candidacy for Congress in Virginia’s 8th Congressional District on Wednesday, according to his campaign.
Addressing the Arlington County Democratic Committee, Dunigan said he resigned from the intelligence agency because he could no longer serve an administration he believes is undermining American democracy.
“I loved my job at CIA, but I love my country more,” Dunigan said he told the audience. “I could no longer be complicit or silent as the second Trump administration destroys the moral fabric of this nation.”
Dunigan is one of five Democrats challenging Rep. Don Beyer, the seven-term incumbent, in the June 16 primary. Michael Duffin, Frank Ferreira, Daniel Gray, and Mo Seifeldein are also seeking the nomination. Three Republicans — Heerak Christian Kim, Luke Nathan Phillips, and Tony Sabio — are running in their party’s primary on the same day.
A first-time candidate, Dunigan framed his campaign as a generational challenge to the party’s establishment, calling on Democrats to build new coalitions to “regain the ground we’ve lost and make sure what’s happening now — never happens again,” according to remarks shared by his campaign.
According to his campaign website, Dunigan enlisted in the Marine Corps at 18 and deployed to Afghanistan before earning a master’s degree in international relations from Harvard on the GI Bill. He said he moved to Virginia in 2014 to work in national security and eventually joined the CIA.
He said he walked away from that career because he refused to remain “silently complicit” in what he called an authoritarian project.
“I’m thinking of all the times I put my life, and the lives of those who trusted me, on the line for a government that I no longer recognize,” Dunigan said, according to his campaign.
An eight-point agenda
Dunigan’s campaign centers on what he calls an “8 for 8” platform — eight policy priorities for the 8th District. The agenda includes a call to abolish U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which he described as an agency that “has deliberately operated outside the rule of law” and “cannot be reformed.” He said he would push to redirect ICE’s projected $75 billion four-year budget toward affordability programs and community investment.
The platform also calls for a congressional investigation into the Department of Government Efficiency, which Dunigan described as “an unlawful enterprise” led by “unelected tech oligarchs” that sabotaged the federal government rather than reforming it. The issue carries particular weight in the 8th District, home to one of the largest concentrations of federal workers in the country.
On health care, Dunigan said he supports Medicare for All and decoupling coverage from employment, citing the expiration of Affordable Care Act subsidies at the end of 2025. His platform states the lapse has affected nearly 400,000 Virginians and left tens of thousands in the district facing doubled premiums or loss of coverage entirely.
His platform also takes aim at the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence infrastructure in Northern Virginia, where the region’s data center corridor has driven up energy costs and strained water resources, according to his campaign. Dunigan called for federal oversight of high-risk AI systems and worker protections against job displacement.
Other planks include stronger campaign finance laws and overturning Citizens United, investments in affordable housing and renewable energy, protection of reproductive health care access, defense of higher education from political interference, and expedited pathways to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and Dreamers.
A personal wealth pledge
In an unusual move for a congressional candidate, Dunigan said he would make a voluntary personal wealth pledge if elected. According to his platform, he committed to donating 50% of his congressional salary to community organizations, making his personal finances available for public review, placing all assets in a blind trust and refusing to trade individual stocks — a pointed contrast in a race against a long-serving incumbent.
“Public office is a responsibility, not a reward,” his platform states.
Dunigan reportedly criticized Democratic leadership during his remarks for failing to confront the current national crisis, pointing to ICE killings of American citizens, the dismantling of the federal workforce and the abandonment of U.S. allies abroad.
“I’m not here because I want to be a politician,” he said, according to his campaign. “I’m becoming a politician because there’s a job that needs to be done.”
He reportedly closed by invoking the personal cost of public service: “Service without sacrifice is just a job, and it’s time to side with the future.”
Beyer, who has represented the district since 2015, has not yet publicly responded to Dunigan’s announcement.
Virginia’s 8th Congressional District covers Arlington, Alexandria and parts of Fairfax County.
More generally, the job for primary challengers is to explain what they believe the incumbent is doing wrong (and why they would be better). It seems Dunigan refuses to make such a clear explanation, instead just calling for generational change. While important, I don't think that'll be enough to give him the win over Beyer.
Establishing a precedent that Congressional salaries should be donated makes it harder for poor people (who can't afford to do that) to run for Congress in the future.