In a stunning political shakeup in Northern Virginia, Republican Jeannie LaCroix pulled off a major upset Tuesday night, flipping a county-level seat in deep-blue Prince William County after her Democratic opponent was rocked by controversy over a series of racist and offensive social media posts from more than a decade ago.
LaCroix, 64, defeated Democratic nominee Muhammed Sufiyan Casim, 36, in a special election for the Prince William County Board of Supervisors, according to results reported by Potomac Local News. LaCroix captured 43.7 percent of the vote, while Casim secured just 37.0 percent. A fractured Democratic field played a decisive role in the outcome, with write-in candidates collectively drawing 19.2 percent of the vote.
The race took a dramatic turn when past online posts from Casim resurfaced. The posts, written during the 2010s when Casim was in his 20s, contained racist, misogynistic, and antisemitic remarks that quickly ignited backlash during the campaign.
Casim later acknowledged the posts in an interview with the Prince William Times, admitting he had used the N-word in one instance. He attempted to explain the context, saying he had used the term “foolishly” without understanding the cultural weight behind it.
“I wasn’t realizing the cultural weight and the context, so I used that word foolishly, but not in a derogatory or prejudicial way,” Casim told the outlet. He added that he used the slur when referring to a Black friend and suggested that at the time it was behavior he had copied from peers.
“Back in those days, a lot of kids would use that word both with kids of African American origin and people of any brown ethnicity,” he said.
Despite the controversy, Casim refused to withdraw from the race. In a March 2 post on X addressing the backlash, he defended his candidacy while also criticizing a former Republican chairman of the Board of Supervisors, claiming past rhetoric had “emboldened neo-Nazis.” Casim also emphasized his own background as a Muslim immigrant.
“As a Muslim-American who has experienced what it’s like to live in America after 9/11, discussions around cultural sensitivity are very important to me,” he wrote.
But the fallout inside his own party proved damaging.
Democrat Pamela Montgomery, who had lost the party’s primary to Casim, launched a last-minute write-in campaign just one week before Election Day, citing concerns over the resurfaced posts. Montgomery, who is Black, argued that the issue demanded accountability from Democrats.
“For Democrats, confronting racism is not optional. It is foundational,” Montgomery wrote in a letter published by the Prince William Times on Election Day.
“When racist language surfaces, especially from someone seeking public office, the response should be clear: acknowledge it, condemn it, and demand accountability.”
Even with limited time to campaign, Montgomery still led the field in fundraising, underscoring the turmoil within the Democratic coalition heading into the vote.
The seat became vacant after Democrat Margaret Franklin resigned earlier this year following her election to the Virginia House of Delegates. Notably, Franklin had previously defeated Casim by a wide margin for that nomination.
Prince William County has long been considered a Democratic stronghold. In the 2024 presidential race, Democratic nominee Kamala Harris carried the county by 18 points. Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger won it by a staggering 34-point margin in 2025.
Yet Tuesday’s result delivered a rare reversal during President Donald Trump’s second term, flipping a local seat from Democratic to Republican control and highlighting how internal party divisions and candidate controversies can rapidly reshape even the bluest political terrain.
