Exclusive — Virginia Special Election Republican Candidate: Rise of ‘Communism’ Is ‘Scary’

Karina Lipsman, a Soviet refugee, national security expert, and Republican candidate in the special election for Virginia’s 11th Congressional District, warned of “communism” rising in the United States and advocated for legal immigration on the latest episode of Breitbart News Saturday.

Speaking with show host Matthew Boyle, the Ukraine-born foreign policy professional explained how she legally migrated to the U.S. to escape a regime that “over 30 percent” of young Americans “sympathize” with:

Everyone looks at America as a beacon of hope. All the immigrants who come here legally, obviously, want to escape what they dealt with in communist and socialist regimes, because it’s an overreaching government — no ability to move upwards — and they want a better future for the next generation. And so they uproot their lives, they leave everything that they have, everything that they know, and they flee to America, because that’s the beacon. 

So for us, it was during the fall of the Soviet Union when my mother decided that the only way that I was going to have a future is if she applied for a refugee visa, and then we were able to come here to America so that I could have a better future. 

The point is, you know, we have communism here in the United States, and it’s so scary, Matt, because I work for an organization called the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, and right now, over 30 percent of Gen Zers sympathize with a socialist communist regime.

Lipsman is running for the late Rep. Gerry Connolly’s (D-VA) seat after he died on May 21 due to esophageal cancer.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) announced last week that a special election would take place on September 9. 

Lipsman, who ran against Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) in Virginia’s Eighth Congressional District in 2022, stressed the need to relate to legal immigrants in order to successfully flip the 11th District red. 

“I ran last two cycles ago … and honestly, this is the only opportunity that we’re going to get to be able to flip a seat,” she explained. “Obviously, voter turnout in the special elections are very low, so the goal is to outwork your opponent … and Donald Trump did a fantastic job of being able to relate to the average American, to the legal immigrants who fled their countries to obtain the American dream. He spoke directly to people and the people’s needs, and that’s what a good candidate is going to do in the 11th district in order to be able to flip it.”

Virginia Republicans will hold a canvas in late June or early July, Rosie Oakley, the 11th District GOP chair, told the Washington Post. 

Breitbart News Saturday airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Eastern.

Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, DC. Find her on X/Twitter and Instagram.