Virginia and Maryland lawmakers received $810,000 from defense contractor PACs, led by Wittman

By Garrett Sloane

WASHINGTON — Members of Congress from Virginia and Maryland received a net $810,000 from the political action committees of 12 major defense contractors during the 2025-26 election cycle, led by Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.), according to a Washington Inquisitor analysis of Federal Election Commission records.

Wittman, the vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, whose district includes Virginia’s Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula, received $120,000 from all 12 PACs, more than the PACs gave any other candidate in the country. Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-Va.), whose Hampton Roads district includes major Navy installations and shipyards, was second in the region at $81,500, also from all 12.

The Washington area is home to the headquarters of several of the companies, including Lockheed Martin in Bethesda, Md., RTX and Boeing in Arlington, Va., and General Dynamics in Reston, Va. Corporate PACs are funded by voluntary employee contributions, and the industry has generally said it supports lawmakers who work on defense and on issues that affect its employees.

Region’s recipients

Of the $810,000, about $521,000 went to Democrats and $289,000 to Republicans. That tilt is the reverse of the national pattern, in which the same PACs gave about 59% of their candidate money to Republicans. Most of the region’s House seats and all four of its Senate seats are held by Democrats.

Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-Va.), who won the 2025 special election in the Northern Virginia seat previously held by the late Rep. Gerald Connolly, received $68,000. Connolly’s campaign had received $14,000 from the PACs earlier in the cycle. Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-Va.), a member of the Armed Services Committee, drew money from all 12 PACs.

Among other Virginia and Maryland members, Rep. Jennifer McClellan (D-Va.) received $21,500, Rep. Johnny Olszewski (D-Md.) $19,000, Rep. April McClain Delaney (D-Md.) $17,000, Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.) $14,000, Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.) $12,000, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) $10,500, Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) $8,000 and Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) $7,500. In the Senate, Tim Kaine (D-Va.) received $8,000, Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) $7,000 and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) $4,500. Kaine serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Warner, who is on the ballot this year, is vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

About the data

The figures come from the FEC’s file of committee-to-candidate contributions for Jan. 15, 2025, through Sept. 30, 2026, net of refunds, for the PACs of Lockheed Martin, Boeing, RTX, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, Huntington Ingalls Industries, L3Harris, BAE Systems, Leidos, Booz Allen Hamilton, General Atomics and Textron. Where a candidate had more than one FEC record, the amounts were combined. The figures do not include contributions to party committees, leadership PACs or super PACs, or contributions by individual executives. The District of Columbia’s nonvoting delegate did not receive money from these PACs in the period.

Request for comment

The Washington Inquisitor sought comment from the offices of Reps. Wittman and Kiggans and Sen. Warner. This story will be updated with any responses.

Featured image: Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.), official portrait, 118th Congress. Photo by Brian Thorpe, House Creative Services, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.