James Walkinshaw. Photo: US Congress, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:James_Walkinshaw.jpg
School period
College/University
Gallery of James Walkinshaw
New York University. Photo: Jonathan71, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NYU07.JPG)
Career
Gallery of James Walkinshaw
United States House of Representatives. Photo: United States House of Representatives or Office of the Speaker of the House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:United_States_House_of_Representatives_chamber.jpg)
United States House of Representatives. Photo: United States House of Representatives or Office of the Speaker of the House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:United_States_House_of_Representatives_chamber.jpg)
James R. Walkinshaw is an American Democratic politician who served on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors before winning a 2025 special election to represent Virginia's 11th congressional district. His career has combined congressional staff work, local government, regional transportation leadership, environmental policy, and federal oversight.
Background
Walkinshaw was born on October 22, 1982, in Arlington County, Virginia. He grew up in Northern Virginia and developed his public career in the Washington metropolitan region, where local governments, federal agencies, transportation systems, and a large civil-service workforce are closely connected.
His family life is based in Fairfax County, where he lives with his wife, Yvette, and their son, Mateo. His long association with Northern Virginia shaped both his local-government service and his later congressional focus on federal employees, transportation, infrastructure, environmental policy, and the needs of suburban communities.
Education
Walkinshaw graduated from Stonewall Jackson High School in 2001. The school, later renamed Unity Reed High School, served the growing Northern Virginia public-school population in the Washington metropolitan area.
He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Politics from New York University in 2005. Founded in 1831, New York University is a private research university whose New York setting places political study within one of the United States' principal centers of government, media, finance, and international affairs.
Walkinshaw began his professional political career in congressional and campaign work. He served on the staff of Representative Gerald E. “Gerry” Connolly and was Connolly's chief of staff from 2009 to 2019. In that position, he advised the congressman on federal policy, constituent services, transportation, Metro funding, and protections for the federal workforce; he also took leave to manage Connolly's 2010 reelection campaign.
In 2020, Walkinshaw entered elected local government as the Braddock District representative on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. Fairfax County is one of Virginia's largest and most economically diverse jurisdictions, and its board governs a major suburban county in the Washington metropolitan area. During his tenure, Walkinshaw chaired the board's Legislative and Environmental committees and worked on school funding, environmental authority, solar energy, plastic-waste reduction, affordable housing, collective bargaining, gun-safety measures, and tax relief for spouses of fallen service members.
His local-government work included regional transportation leadership. He represented Fairfax County in the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments and chaired the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board, the federally designated metropolitan planning organization for the Washington area. He also chaired the Virginia Railway Express Operations Board in 2023, when the commuter-rail system pursued expanded service and new transportation options. He resigned from the Fairfax County Board effective September 10, 2025, after being elected to Congress.
Walkinshaw won a special election on September 9, 2025, and took the oath of office on September 10, 2025, as the Democratic representative for Virginia's 11th congressional district. The district includes most of Fairfax County, the City of Fairfax, and the towns of Vienna and Herndon. In the House, he serves on the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and the Committee on Homeland Security, and he founded and co-chairs the Federal Workforce Caucus.
Walkinshaw won the September 9, 2025, special election to represent Virginia's 11th congressional district and filled the vacancy created by the death of Representative Gerry Connolly.
As a Fairfax County supervisor, Walkinshaw advanced local measures involving environmental protection, solar energy, plastic-waste reduction, affordable housing, collective bargaining, gun-safety reforms, and assistance for spouses of fallen service members.
Walkinshaw chaired the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board and the Virginia Railway Express Operations Board, contributing to regional transportation planning and the expansion of commuter-rail service.
He founded and co-chairs the Congressional Federal Workforce Caucus, an organization focused on protecting a merit-based civil service and improving federal employee recruitment, retention, pay, and professional development.
Politics
Walkinshaw is a Democrat whose political work has centered on effective government, environmental protection, transportation, affordable housing, federal workforce protections, gun-safety measures, and the defense of democratic institutions. His public career developed within the modern Democratic Party's coalition of labor, urban and suburban constituencies, environmental advocates, civil-service supporters, and groups seeking expanded access to health care, housing, and public services.
As a Fairfax County supervisor and later as a member of Congress, Walkinshaw has emphasized climate-conscious infrastructure, public transportation, collective bargaining for public employees, reproductive freedom, and protection of the merit-based civil service. His congressional work also reflects the Democratic Party's institutional focus on oversight of executive agencies, social insurance programs such as Social Security and Medicare, and federal investment in transportation and clean energy.
Views
Walkinshaw's public philosophy emphasizes accountable and responsive government, professional public administration, and practical cooperation across levels of government. His work on transportation, environmental policy, housing, and federal workforce protections reflects a view that public institutions should deliver measurable services while protecting long-term democratic and civic interests.
His policy positions also connect environmental sustainability with infrastructure and affordability. In local and national roles, he has presented clean energy, transit investment, emissions reduction, and modernization of public systems as related goals rather than isolated programs.
Membership
Walkinshaw participates in congressional caucuses and regional public-service organizations concerned with government, the environment, transportation, and the representation of Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. His regional memberships and board service connected Fairfax County to metropolitan transportation planning and commuter-rail policy.
In Congress, he belongs to the New Democrat Coalition, the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition, and the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. He also founded and co-chairs the Federal Workforce Caucus, which advocates for a merit-based, professional civil service and policies supporting federal employee recruitment, retention, pay, and working conditions.
Member of the congressional coalition.
New Democrat Coalition
,
United States
2025 - present
Member of the congressional coalition.
Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition
,
United States
2025 - present
Member of the congressional caucus.
Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus
,
United States
2025 - present
Founder and co-chair.
Federal Workforce Caucus
,
United States
2025 - present
Represented Fairfax County in the regional council.
Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments
,
United States
2020 - 2025
Chaired the federally designated metropolitan planning organization for the Washington region.
National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board
,
United States
2020 - 2025
Served as chair in 2023.
Virginia Railway Express Operations Board
,
United States
2020 - 2025
Connections
Walkinshaw worked closely with Representative Gerry Connolly, serving as Connolly's chief of staff from 2009 to 2019 before later succeeding him as representative for Virginia's 11th congressional district. Connolly was a Democratic member of Congress from Northern Virginia whose office focused on federal employees, transportation, regional infrastructure, and government oversight.
Walkinshaw is married to Yvette and has a son, Mateo. The family lives in Fairfax County, Virginia.
Wife:
Yvette Walkinshaw
Son:
Mateo Walkinshaw
Collegue :
Gerald E. Connolly
Walkinshaw served as Connolly's chief of staff from 2009 to 2019 and later succeeded him as representative for Virginia's 11th congressional district.
James Walkinshaw, Fairfax County News Center
Documents Walkinshaw's election to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, his second term beginning in 2024, and his account of county leadership during the COVID-19 period.
