Donald Beyer

Rep. Don Beyer, seeking a seventh term representing Virginia's 8th Congressional District, defended his record on housing and immigration enforcement Thursday night as four Democratic challengers argued the veteran lawmaker hasn't gone far enough on either issue.

The forum, held at Shiloh Baptist Church in Old Town Alexandria, drew candidates Adam Dunigan, Michael Duffin, Mo Seifeldein and Lorena Bruner, along with Republican Tony Sabio, who will face the Democratic primary winner in November. Bruner joined late after severe weather delayed her drive from Stafford.

The forum was hosted by Octavia Caldwell, the church's associate pastor of outreach ministries.

The Rev. Dr. Taft Quincey Heatley, senior pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church, opened the forum recounting the church's 163-year history. The congregation traces its roots to 1863, when 50 formerly enslaved Africans employed by the Union Army gathered at the Freedman's Barracks in Alexandria to form the Old Shiloh Society, which became Shiloh Baptist Church.

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Housing affordability set the tone. Beyer touted his role converting his former car dealership into an all-affordable apartment complex and predicted a major federal tax credit bill would pass by early 2027. His rivals differed in their proposals: Dunigan pushed for federal strings on housing funds, Duffin floated tax-free retirement withdrawals for down payments, and Seifeldein called for a public mortgage option and a crackdown on "mega landlords" and algorithmic rent-setting. Sabio, the lone Republican, proposed tax credits for police, firefighters and medical workers buying starter homes.

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On voting rights, most candidates backed restoring the Voting Rights Act, but differed on strategy. Beyer pointed to legislative plans and a pledge, alongside Gov. Spanberger, to withhold state voter data from the Trump administration. Seifeldein went further, calling for expanding the Supreme Court and warning of a DOJ-DHS "intimidation" effort to monitor Fairfax County elections. Sabio framed election integrity as nonpartisan, focused on ballot access rather than structural change.

Immigration enforcement produced the sharpest contrasts. Dunigan called for abolishing ICE outright, citing the death of an Afghan war veteran in ICE custody. Seifeldein noted Beyer's own shift toward supporting ICE's abolition but criticized him for accepting the Alexandria sheriff's endorsement despite the sheriff's cooperation with ICE. Beyer, calling the agency's culture "deeply broken," said Congress has to "get rid of it" and rebuild something different from the ground up. Sabio placed blame across multiple administrations and called for prosecuting individual bad actors rather than dismantling the agency.

On education, candidates largely agreed on raising teacher pay but split on federal involvement. Beyer emphasized preserving the Department of Education and its funding for low-income schools, while Dunigan argued state-run STEM pipelines could fill the gap if the federal agency disappears. Sabio pointed to bloated administrative salaries as the bigger problem, and Bruner, a former teacher, called for expanded school choice.

After that round of questions, the candidates took questions from the audience.

Early voting is underway ahead of the Aug. 4 Democratic primary.