Kathleen Murphy to run in Virginia special election Kathleen Murphy, who lost narrowly to Virginia state Del. Barbara Comstock in 2013, will run in a special election for the same seat now that the Republican is headed to Congress. A special election will be held on Jan. 6, 2015 to replace Comstock, who won handily in the open race for Virginia's 10th congressional district on Tuesday, in the Virginia House of Delegates. "It is important that the people of the 34th District have the opportunity to elect representation prior to the start of the 2015 session," Virginia House Speaker William J. Howell said Monday in announcing the election. Murphy, a McLean consultant and former Clinton administration official, announced her candidacy Monday with the support of Gov. Terry McAuliffe and a long list of other prominent state and local Democrats. On the Republican side, McLean consultant Allen Johnson, who served as an agricultural trade ambassador in the George W. Bush administration, has announced his candidacy. So has Craig Parisot, who has worked in the technology field and local nonprofits. Both parties will pick their nominees on Saturday. Republicans will hold a firehouse primary (a canvas held by the state party) from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Democrats have scheduled a similar unassembled caucus for 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.. But party officials say Murphy is unlikely to face a primary challenger. If no other candidate files by the Wednesday deadline, the party may cancel the caucus. The 34th district, which covers parts of Fairfax and Loudoun counties, is more Democratic than the congressional seat Comstock won on Tuesday. Murphy lost last year by 1 percent of the vote, and all three statewide Democratic candidates won the district that year. However, former governor Bob McDonnell won there in 2009, and the seat became more Republican after redistricting in 2011. President Obama and Republican Mitt Romney split these suburban and exurban voters in the last presidential election. Democrats have tried and failed to unseat Comstock, a prodigious fundraiser with powerful Republican party connections, in every election since she took office in 2009. The 2013 race between Comstock and Murphy turned nasty, with their mutual dislike evident in public appearances. Murphy told The Washington Post recently that the Republican fabricated in campaign literature "a secret plan to raise taxes" and claimed her rival lied to cancer patients. "That disturbed me," Murphy said, because "I'm a cancer survivor." A Comstock spokeswoman responded that Murphy "sadly has been very bitter and not gotten over her loss."