By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-11-01 06:10:06 | Updated at 2024-11-01 08:23:27
2 hours ago
Voters in Virginia have been left confused just days before the election as a Democrat congressional candidate is repeatedly mixed up with his famed identical twin brother.
Candidate Yevgeny 'Eugene' Vindman, running for Virginia's 7th District, has often been confused during his run for office for his twin Alexander Vindman, known for testifying against Donald Trump at his first House impeachment.
Speaking to voters in Fredericksburg, Virginia this week, the Washington Post found scores of voters who believed they were voting for the whistleblower brother.
One voter, Jerry Stokes, 81, had just shaken hands with Eugene when he said he was impressed with his 'immense strength and leadership' during the impeachment hearings in 2019.
When told that Eugene was not his whistleblower brother Alexander, Stokes said he was 'mistaken' and admitted he even finds it hard to tell the difference between his own twin sons.
Virginia congressional candidate Yevgeny 'Eugene' Vindman (right) has been repeatedly confused by voters with his brother, famed Trump impeachment whistleblower Alexander Vindman (left)
While Eugene Vindman (right) is not his whistleblower brother, the two men notably have strikingly similar faces, voices and names that has left some voters scratching their heads
While Eugene Vindman is not his whistleblower brother, the two men notably have strikingly similar faces, voices and names, and Eugene did also play a role in the congressional hearings .
The twin brothers were both working for the National Security Council (NSC) at the time as the House launched an impeachment probe into claims Trump instructed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to open an investigation into Joe Biden.
On a phone call listened into by Alexander, then the NSC's head of European Affairs, Trump threatened to withhold military aid to Ukraine if Zelenskyy refused, leading Vindman to report the conversation.
His brother Eugene, then an ethics lawyer across the hall at the NSC, then helped his brother run the report up the food chain in congress and prepare him for the hearings.
Alexander's testimony was seen across the nation and his national profile grew, leading to his brother's current electoral predicament. After Trump was acquitted by the senate, he fired both Vindman brothers from their roles on the National Security Council.
Vindman, pictured before his bombshell testimony on November 19, 2019, shot to national prominence in 2019 when he testified against President Donald Trump at his first impeachment hearings
Vindman testified that then-President Donald Trump instructed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to open an investigation into Joe Biden
Candidate Eugene joked in a statement that 'it would be hard for voters to mistake (him with his brother) because I am unequivocally the better-looking twin'
With Eugene now campaigning in Virginia, the Washington Post said they found at least eight voters at 10 of his campaign events that believed he was his elder twin.
Just as they were in 2019 when Trump's impeachment rocked the nation, voters in Virginia were split on whether this mix-up was a positive or negative for Vindman's candidacy.
Real estate agent Elena Lane said she was supporting Vindman because 'Trump lied and Mr. Vindman came and said: That’s not true', adding that she 'watched it on MSNBC.'
McKendree Fulks, a grain farmer, countered that in his eyes, 'many of the things he said in the hearings were lies.'
In a statement regarding being mixed up with his whistleblower brother, Eugene Vindman made light of the issue just days before voters decide to elect him or not.
'It would be hard for voters to mistake us because I am unequivocally the better-looking twin,' he quipped.
'My very real brother knows that I stand for what the voters care about: abortion rights and against MAGA’s Project 2025.'
Vindman's opponent, Republican Derrick Anderson (pictured), responded to the claims that it is 'no surprise that voters are confusing him with his brother because he’s literally hiding from voters'
Alexander has also notably joined his brother on the campaign trail a few times, including tweeting a day they spent together 'touching every corner' of the 7th District.
'He's working hard!' he said of his brother, alongside smiling selfies they took together out on the trail.
Vindman is facing Republican Derrick Anderson in a closely watched race for an open seat vacated by Democrat Abigail Spanberger, who is running for governor of Virginia.
Anderson took the opportunity to take a shot at his opponent when asked about the Vindman brothers' confusion.
'It’s no surprise that voters are confusing him with his brother because he’s literally hiding from voters — he has dodged all the TV debates and a number of local TV interviews,' campaign spokesman Riley Ploch said in a statement.
'He barely even appears in his own false TV ads.'
