The first Republican contender in the redrawn 7th Congressional District made his pitch to Arlington Republicans this week.
Douglas Ollivant, a Culpeper County resident and managing partner of a strategic consulting firm, is for now the only announced candidate in the 7th District as approved by voters on April 21, although more could be on the way.
The new 7th, known as the “lobster district” for its shape, starts in Arlington and then moves west and southwest through suburban, exurban and eventually rural areas. Under the redrawn districts, no incumbent member of Congress currently lives within its boundaries.
With approximately a dozen Democrats seeking their party’s nomination for the 7th District seat, Ollivant predicted a “very, very bloody primary” on the Democratic side.
“We do have that to look forward to,” he said.
Ollivant said he is running on three focus areas: manufacturing, healthy food and energy abundance.
“We need to manufacture key materials, so we can be sure to have them in a crisis,” Ollivant said at the monthly meeting of the Arlington County Republican Committee on Monday.
On the topic of healthy living, Ollivant said there were major policy implications.
“We are broke [as a nation] because we are sick,” he said. “Good food leads to good health.”
If the new congressional districts survive court challenges, about 60% of the northern part of Arlington will shift into the new 7th District. The southernmost part of the county will remain in the 8th District.
Whichever incarnation of the 11-district congressional map is ultimately in play this year, voters will select party nominees in an Aug. 4 primary. The general election is Nov. 3.
The redrawn 7th District leans Democratic; Kamala Harris won the vote among its residents by about 8% in 2024 and Abigail Spanberger won by nearly 17% in 2025, according to the Virginia Public Access Project (VPAP). Those living within the redrawn 8th District, which meanders from South Arlington south to the Williamsburg area, voted for Harris by a margin of about 17.5% and for Spanberger by about 26%, according to VPAP data.
Ollivant lived in Falls Church before moving southwest to the Culpeper area, more than an hour’s drive outside of Arlington. He spent a half-hour before the Republican committee meeting introducing himself to some of the 50-plus attendees.
Arlington Republican chair Matthew Hurtt said all prospective contenders will be provided with five-minute speaking stints before the committee in coming months.
“We are happy to give candidates the opportunity,” he said.
Republicans typically only garner 20% to 25% of the vote among the Arlington electorate, sometimes less. Hurtt pressed the party rank-and-file to get engaged early this year to give congressional candidates a shot at winning in November.
“It only happens when you show up and do it,” he said of party outreach efforts.
Ollivant said that if the Virginia Supreme Court throws out the new districts, he lives in the boundaries of the current 7th District and would run against incumbent Democrat Eugene Vindman.
If the districts are rejected by the Supreme Court, all of Arlington would return to the 8th District, where it has been since 1992. Incumbent Democrat Don Beyer is seeking re-election in the new 8th and will also run in the 8th if the previous district boundaries are used.
At the April 27 meeting, Hurtt — recently re-elected to a new two-year term as party chair — sounded less than fully optimistic that the referendum would be overturned.
“Precedent is probably not on our side, but we’ll see how it goes,” he said.
