Darius Mayfield, ex-Watson Coleman opponent, will run for Congress again – in Virginia

Darius Mayfield, an energetic Republican who lost two campaigns against Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing) in New Jersey’s deep-blue 12th congressional district, is running for Congress once again – but this time, he’s doing it in Virginia.

Mayfield, who was the GOP’s 12th district nominee in both 2022 and 2024, moved from East Brunswick, New Jersey to an area near Fredericksburg, Virginia soon after he lost last year’s race. And he said that he’s already begun meeting with local Republican party officials and voters in Virginia’s 7th district, a swing district currently held by freshman Democratic Rep. Eugene Vindman.

“People are loving the message, as I always knew that they would, because it’s a universal message,” Mayfield told the New Jersey Globe. “They’re embracing me.”

Mayfield made inroads in New Jersey GOP circles during his two campaigns against Watson Coleman, which were far more active (and explicitly conservative) than many prior GOP attempts to flip the district. But Watson Coleman never stood much chance of losing – she won their two bouts 63%-36% and 61%-36% – and, being from Democratic-leaning East Brunswick in Middlesex County, Mayfield didn’t have any other obvious avenues to political power.

When he and his new wife decided to move, then, he decided he would move somewhere where he could stand a reasonable chance as a Republican candidate for office – and Virginia’s 7th district, which Vindman won last year 51%-49%, fit the bill. (Before Vindman was sworn in this year, the district was held by Red Bank, New Jersey native Abigail Spanberger, a close friend of Mikie Sherrill’s and the presumptive Democratic nominee for governor of Virginia.)

It’s too early to say whether Mayfield’s campaign will take off in Virginia, as well as being beyond the purview of the New Jersey Globe. Mayfield said, though, that if he can replicate what he did in New Jersey in a more favorable district, then he thinks he has a serious shot.

“I’m proud of the work that I did [in New Jersey], and I think things benefited a lot from that,” Mayfield said. “It’s gonna be a huge undertaking and a sacrifice like before, but I’m glad that it’s in a more Republican district than before. I believe that if I do half of what I did in New Jersey, we can win here in the 7th.”