All 100 seats in Virginia’s House of Delegates are on the ballot this fall, and Democrats are running in a record-setting 88 of them. Currently, the GOP controls the chamber with a 66-34 majority, and flipping 17 seats is a virtually unheard-of lift in a single cycle, especially when Republicans have gerrymandered the state House map to such an extreme degree.
But you can’t win if you don’t compete, and Democrats across the state have responded to Trump’s election by stepping forward to bring the fight to the GOP at the ballot box. In the commonwealth, the resistance has manifested in Democratic candidates signing up to take on Republican incumbents in every corner of the state, from rural Southwest Virginia to the rapidly growing suburbs and exurbs of Hampton Roads, Richmond, and Northern Virginia.
A record number of primaries this year resulted in strong, battle-tested candidates—and women make up more than half of this contingent of challengers. Indeed, 30 of the 54 Democrats taking on Republican incumbents this fall are women.
Daily Kos is pleased to roll out our first slate of endorsed Virginia House candidates—three women who will bring a much-needed perspective to the state capitol in Richmond. Hala Ayala, Debra Rodman, and Danica Roem are running in competitive districts and can help break the GOP’s stranglehold on the state House.
Help these three amazing women lead the resistance all the way to the Virginia House—contribute $3 to their campaigns today!
Hala Ayala is running in House District 51 in the D.C. suburbs against Republican Del. Richard Anderson, a four-term incumbent. Ayala, a cybersecurity specialist and founder of the Prince William County chapter of the National Organization of Women, quit her job to run for office full-time. She’s a single mother of two, and she helped organize her state for the Women’s March in January. And like many folks in rapidly growing Northern Virginia, she comes from a very diverse background: Her father’s roots are Salvadorian and North-African, while her mother is Irish and Lebanese. Ayala’s opponent is a consistent supporter of extreme anti-choice legislation, including a ban on abortions after 20 weeks.
Debra Rodman is running in House District 73 in the Richmond suburbs against Del. John O’Bannon, a 17-year GOP incumbent who’s only ever faced a Democratic opponent once since first winning office. Rodman is an anthropology professor at Randolph-Macon College and head of the school’s Women’s Studies program. A first-time candidate, Rodman also advocates for immigrants, children, and people in the LGBT community fleeing persecution in their home countries. Meanwhile, O’Bannon is one of the General Assembly’s most ardent opponents of choice. He’s repeatedly voted to defund Planned Parenthood, supported blocking insurance companies from covering abortion services, and champions both banning abortion at 20 weeks and so-called “personhood” legislation.
Last but in no way least, Danica Roem is running in House District 13 in Northern Virginia, where she’s taking on Del. Bob Marshall, a notoriously virulent anti-LGBT crusader. Roem is a journalist by trade and has proven herself to be a tenacious, hard-working candidate focused on the real issues that impact residents of her district. Her signature topic in this race is roads—specifically, the terrible traffic on Route 28 in Prince William County. She's running on this and the many other things her opponent gives short shrift while he's busy grandstanding for his hateful causes in Richmond.
Roem would also be Virginia’s first openly transgender elected official and will advocate protection of LGBT rights, too, but she understands that this is one issue among many facing Virginians—which seems to be something Marshall forgot a long time ago.