Backed by rival GOP factions, vets in Va. primary look similar on paper

Save for the facial hair, it would have been hard to tell Derrick Anderson and Cameron Hamilton apart.

Sitting side by side at a candidate forum here earlier this month, the front-runners in one of Virginia’s most competitive GOP primaries both highlighted their time serving in elite military units and then in the federal government. Both pledged to go hard on China and campus protesters while pitching themselves as Republicans’ best chance to flip this battleground seat.