Mark Leighton (Virginia)

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Mark Leighton

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

June 18, 2024

Education

Bachelor's

Connecticut College

Law

Georgetown University Law Center

Personal

Birthplace

Waterville, Maine

Profession

Librarian

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Mark Leighton (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Virginia's 10th Congressional District. He lost in the Democratic primary on June 18, 2024.

Leighton completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Mark Leighton was born in Waterville, Maine. Leighton earned a bachelor's degree from the Connecticut College and a law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center. His career experience includes working as a librarian.

Elections

2024

See also: Virginia's 10th Congressional District election, 2024

Virginia's 10th Congressional District election, 2024 (June 18 Democratic primary)

Virginia's 10th Congressional District election, 2024 (June 18 Republican primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House Virginia District 10

Suhas Subramanyam defeated Mike Clancy in the general election for U.S. House Virginia District 10 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Suhas Subramanyam (D)	52.1	215,131
		Mike Clancy (R)	47.5	196,343
		Other/Write-in votes	0.4	1,538

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 413,012
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Dennis Aryan (Independent)

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Virginia District 10

The following candidates ran in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Virginia District 10 on June 18, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Suhas Subramanyam	30.4	13,504
		Dan Helmer	26.6	11,784
		Atif Qarni	10.7	4,768
		Eileen Filler-Corn	9.3	4,131
		Jennifer Boysko	9.0	4,016
		David Reid	3.2	1,419
		Michelle Maldonado	3.2	1,412
		Adrian Pokharel	2.3	1,028
		Krystle Kaul	2.2	982
		Travis Nembhard	1.6	722
		Marion Devoe	0.9	386
		Mark Leighton	0.5	224

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 44,376
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Brandon Garay (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Virginia District 10

Mike Clancy defeated Aliscia Andrews, Alexander Isaac, and Manga Anantatmula in the Republican primary for U.S. House Virginia District 10 on June 18, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Mike Clancy	64.2	17,434
		Aliscia Andrews	21.5	5,832
		Alexander Isaac	9.4	2,544
		Manga Anantatmula	4.9	1,327

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 27,137
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Brooke Taylor (R)
• Clair McDade (R)
• Rodney Ferguson (R)
• John Beatty (R)

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Leighton in this election.

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Mark Leighton completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Leighton's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I'm a librarian and a longtime Democratic volunteer who has always wanted to be more involved in politics. I got a chance as a volunteer to help candidates get elected, but I wanted to be able to contribute on the policy side more. Unfortunately, it never happened. But I always thought I had a lot to contribute, if only I could get my message out. So when this seat opened up, I decided to go for it because I don't want to keep waiting my turn.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• I want to solve our college affordability crisis. I think the reason college is so expensive is because we are subsidizing tuition by giving out federal student loans with virtually no restrictions. Colleges know this and they have continually raised tuition. So my plan is to require colleges to keep tuition reasonable, such as within inflation, or they get cut off from federal student loans. I believe that will create some downward pressure on tuition.
• We have a health care affordability crisis in this country. I think the reason is because we have an outdated system of getting our health care: most of us get it through our employer. It's a relic of WWII policy, actually, and it never got changed. So my plan is what I call consumer-based health care. I'm the only politician in the country who is calling for us to break the link between your job and your health care, and let people shop around for their own health plans. When they do, insurers will compete for their business, and customers will be in the driver's seat. That will reduce costs and improve quality as competition always does. It will save us all a lot of money that we can spend on other priorities too.
• There is a housing affordability crisis in this country. New home construction plunged after the 2008 recession, and it never really got back to where it had been. So we've lost over a decade's worth of new homes in this country. We need to encourage builders to build more, by using things like subsidies and tax breaks to encourage construction. We also need to lower interest rates. The Federal Reserve has been playing around with the money supply too much, and it has driven up inflation. Congress needs more control over the Federal Reserve's ability to affect the money supply like that.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Budgetary decisions impact so many issues so it's something I find very interesting and important.

Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?

Master of the Senate by Robert Caro, because it shows how you have to work with all sides and really listen in order to get something done

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Honesty, integrity, openness

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

Serving the voters and what they want

What legacy would you like to leave?

That I tried to listen to people and help solve their problems.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

Mt. Saint Helens exploding. I guess I was 6

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

Working at an art store; a year and a half

What qualities does the U.S. House of Representatives possess that makes it unique as an institution?

It is the most democratic of the two chambers of Congress, and that makes it quicker to express the mood of the country.

Do you believe that it's beneficial for representatives to have previous experience in government or politics?

It can be, but it is not essential. It's most important for someone to understand how Congress works and to be running on the right issues.

What do you perceive to be the United States’ greatest challenges as a nation over the next decade?

The rise of China and also climate change

Do you believe that two years is the right term length for representatives?

Yes, it's enough time to accomplish something but short enough to ensure they stay relevant to the electorate.

What are your thoughts on term limits?

I think they could be good if we had a radical change in the design of our government, but it would be unfortunate to force a talented person to retire just because they hit a term limit.

Is there a particular representative, past or present, whom you want to model yourself after?

Hubert Humphrey or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, because of the way they pushed a policy agenda. Humphrey especially because of the way he went about patiently trying to get things done.

Both sitting representatives and candidates for office hear many personal stories from the residents of their district. Is there a story that you’ve heard that you found particularly touching, memorable, or impactful?

Too many to pick just one. So many people have real problems that government can solve, so it goes without saying that any representative worth their salt would do something about these problems.

Do you believe that compromise is necessary or desirable for policymaking?

Most of the time it is both necessary and desirable, but sometimes you must take a principled stand and refuse to compromise your beliefs if something important is in jeopardy. Hopefully, that is rare.

The Constitution says that all bills for raising revenue must originate in the House. What role would this power play in your priorities if elected?

It's a great power, especially since so many things are impacted by tax policy, so it can be used to help shape the agenda.

How should the U.S. House use its investigative powers?

The investigative powers have gone too far and need to be curtailed. Citizens should not be required to go before Congress and get yelled at just for the sake of a politician's campaign.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

Progressive Wave

What committees interest you?

Budget, because it affects so many other policy areas. Ways and Means, because it affects health care, tax, and trade. Energy and Commerce, because it affects health care and the environment.

What are your views on financial transparency and government accountability?

I believe in total transparency, so citizens can feel assured that they know what their government is doing

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

Campaign finance summary

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Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

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Mark Leighton campaign contribution history

Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2024*	U.S. House Virginia District 10	Lost primary	$8,473	$8,473
Grand total			$8,473	$8,473
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete

See also

2024 Elections

What's on the ballot? U.S. President U.S. Congress U.S. Congress special elections State executives State legislatures State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards Election analysis hub

Government

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External links

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Candidate

U.S. House Virginia District 10

Website

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Footnotes

[show]

Virginia's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Tim Kaine (D)

Mark Warner (D)

Representatives

District 1

Rob Wittman (R)

District 2

Jennifer Kiggans (R)

District 3

Bobby Scott (D)

District 4

Jennifer McClellan (D)

District 5

John McGuire (R)

District 6

Benjamin Lee Cline (R)

District 7

Eugene Vindman (D)

District 8

Donald Sternoff Beyer (D)

District 9

H. Morgan Griffith (R)

District 10

Suhas Subramanyam (D)

District 11

James Walkinshaw (D)

Democratic Party (8)

Republican Party (5)