45 Facts About Dan Helmer

Daniel Isaac Helmer was born on September 27,1981 and is an American politician.

Since 2023, Helmer has served as Campaigns Chair for Virginia's House Democratic Caucus and led Democrats' successful effort to gain a majority in 2023.

In 2019, Dan Helmer successfully ran for the Virginia House of Delegates in District 40, defeating longtime incumbent and Republican Caucus Chair Tim Hugo.

Dan Helmer currently represents the 10th district post-redistricting, which is located entirely in Fairfax County.

Dan Helmer ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination to the 10th Congressional District.

Dan Helmer is the son and grandson of immigrants and Holocaust survivors.

Dan Helmer is a graduate of the United States Military Academy.

Dan Helmer is a Rhodes Scholar who earned a Masters in International Relations from Wolfson College, Oxford.

Dan Helmer is married to Karen Dan Helmer, an elementary school educator.

Dan Helmer is a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army Reserve and served on the faculty of Social Sciences at West Point as an Instructor in International Affairs.

Dan Helmer has served in the House of Delegates since 2020 after winning election in 2019 to Virginia's 40th House of Delegates district.

In 2019, Dan Helmer was the Democratic nominee for Virginia's 40th House of Delegates district.

Dan Helmer ran against Republican incumbent Tim Hugo, who had been in office since 2003.

In 2021, Dan Helmer was again the Democratic nominee and defeated Republican Harold Pyon in a year when Republicans won numerous seats and regained their majority in the Virginia House.

Dan Helmer, who is Jewish, said that in the mailer, his nose was accentuated and his West Point military insignia was removed from his jacket.

Dan Helmer was elected the Vice Chair for Outreach, Scott's previous position in the Caucus.

Dan Helmer had been an early and vocal proponent of impeaching President Donald Trump.

In 2023 and 2024, Dan Helmer authored legislation that would bar individuals convicted of participation in the January 6,2021 United States Capitol attack from serving in elected office or offices of public trust.

Dan Helmer has been engaged in multiple efforts to protect Voting Rights.

In 2021, Dan Helmer passed a bill to require provisions for absentee voting in partisan nominating processes.

Dan Helmer has been a vocal proponent of Gun Control laws.

In May 2018, Dan Helmer filmed a video of his purchase of a semi-automatic assault-style rifle without a background check at a gun show in a video that subsequently went viral.

Dan Helmer has been the patron of a proposed Assault Weapons Ban for many years, with the bill passing the General Assembly for the first time in 2024.

When Democrats lost their majority in the Virginia House in 2021 elections in Virginia, Dan Helmer was a vocal proponent of calling a special session of the General Assembly in order to pass abortion protections and the first reading of a Constitutional Amendment to protect abortion rights.

Since 2020, Dan Helmer has patroned multiple bills to provide coverage for infertility services including IVF.

In 2022, Elizabeth Carr, the first baby born to IVF in the United States called on the Virginia legislature in an Op-Ed in The Washington Post to pass legislation by Dan Helmer to cover IVF treatments.

In 2024, Dan Helmer led an effort to provide presumptive Workman's Compensation Coverage for Firefighters who faced infertility.

In 2022, Dan Helmer introduced a bill to end the exemption for VMI but it failed on a party-line vote.

In 2021, Dan Helmer passed a bill that, according to the Virginia Poverty Law Center, extended SNAP benefits to 25,000 Virginia families and that was expected to bring over $100 million in new food aid annually to Virginia.

In 2025, the bill did not become law, but Dan Helmer vowed to continue work on the issue.

In 2021, Dan Helmer passed legislation that prevented employers from firing employees who used medical cannabis but were not impaired on the job.

In 2022, Dan Helmer championed and passed on a bipartisan basis legislation to mandate Virginia hospitals provide a full list of all prices they charge online.

Dan Helmer is the author of the High-Performance Building Act that went into effect in 2021 and requires that public sector building construction in Virginia adheres to Green Globes or LEED standard in most cases.

In March 2022, Dan Helmer sponsored and passed a bipartisan resolution in the Virginia House of Delegates expressing support for Ukraine.

In 2018, Dan Helmer was a Democratic candidate for the 2018 Virginia's 10th congressional district election in the United States House of Representatives.

The video, in which Dan Helmer spoofed the film "Top Gun" and sang "You've Lost That Centrist Feeling", garnered mixed reactions.

In November 2023, shortly after winning reelection to his House of Delegates seat, Dan Helmer announced his intention to seek the Democratic Party nomination for a second time in Virginia's 10th congressional district after the incumbent representative, Democrat Jennifer Wexton, declined to run for reelection due to illness.

Years before it became a front-and-center political issue, Mr Dan Helmer was fighting to force insurance companies to cover in vitro fertilization as an essential health benefit.

Dan Helmer sponsored a 2022 bill that requires Virginia hospitals to publish standard prices for items and services online.

Dan Helmer, who led in early voting, ultimately came in 2nd place to Suhas Subramnyam who earned the endorsement of Jennifer Wexton, the retiring Congresswoman.

Dan Helmer led fundraising in the race, raising over $1.5 million.

The Loudoun Times-Mirror reported that Dan Helmer indirectly received over $5.4 million from three political action committees in support of his run through June 2024.

Dan Helmer stayed in the race, and neither the Washington Post nor any of Dan Helmer's endorsers rescinded their endorsements as a result of the allegation.

In February 2025, Dan Helmer filed a defamation lawsuit against the Loudoun County Democratic party officials and formal officials involved in the allegation.

One month later the same activist was telling reporters that Dan Helmer had groped her.