My name is Adam Dunigan and I'm running to be your Democratic nominee in Virginia's 8th Congressional District primary on August 4.​​

 

I'm new to politics and want to start by telling you my story.​​

 

I grew up working class in California. My upbringing wasn't stable. I was a wild kid and spent more time in the Los Angeles punk scene than I did on academics. After barely managing to graduate, I wanted a ticket out of town, and the fastest ticket was the Marine Corps. I enlisted at 18, becoming the third generation of my family to wear the uniform. My father received two Purple Hearts in Vietnam and my grandfather was a flight medic during the Second World War. My family's history of service is something I take deep pride in.​

 

The Marine Corps was the biggest influence in my youth. My enlistment included a combat deployment to Afghanistan, rotations abroad, time at sea on an aircraft carrier, and plenty of time at Quantico and in the Carolinas. Some people say Marines eat crayons, which is true. What is also true is that I met Rhodes Scholars and PhDs working artillery batteries. I met self-taught mechanics who quoted classical literature. I served alongside men and women from all walks of life who were tough as nails and had all the raw materials to change the world. And in the squad bay, with the full cross-section of America, I learned we all ate from the same box of crayons.​

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Using active duty military tuition assistance, I earned my Bachelor's Degree in Social Psychology through a local university. And I did well enough that later in life, I used my GI Bill to earn a Master's Degree in International Relations from Harvard.

 

In 2014, I left the Marines and moved to Virginia to begin a career in foreign policy and national security. I became a case officer at CIA, and in that capacity, I saw the very real threats facing our country. I made hard choices, lived tough days. And I entered politics in January 2026 to ring the alarm bell: The real danger is here at home.

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After 17 years of military and government service, I resigned from CIA to run for Congress. Our democracy is backsliding. Our elected leaders are either unwilling or unable to stop the authoritarian project currently underway. ​I never wanted to be a politician. I have no interest in the spectacle of our current politics. But too much is at stake, and doing nothing is not an option. Especially when Congress continuously fails to protect or provide for the people of Virginia's 8th. 

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We deserve better. We need more. Civil servants deserved protection from DOGE. We could have avoided the affordability crisis. We should have kept our educators and universities safe from political interference, reformed our healthcare system, and prevented the lawless excesses of ICE. Now, if we fail to reverse the worst impulses of this administration, the progress we've fought so hard to achieve for civil rights, individual freedom, and enlightenment values in this country will be lost for generations.

 

My foundational ideas aren't new: Term limits, big money out of politics, accountability under the law, and an affordable quality of life for every citizen. These concepts aren't controversial, and they shouldn't be political. They're the only guiding principles that can give us a shot at freeing this country from the stranglehold of corporate politics and a captured power structure. The choice we face in 2026 is simple: The Democratic Party must either change up the roster and evolve, or stay as it is and accept obsolescence. On August 4th, we all have to decide which side we're on.​​