Senate District 026

Democratic candidate Janie Zimmerman was born on Andrews Air Force Base while her dad was serving in the Vietnam War. She wholly supports and understands veterans, their families, and the challenges they face. Zimmerman has been a teacher for almost 30 years and currently teaches at a juvenile detention center in Prince Edward County.

She is passionate about increasing education funding, including afterschool programs and free community college tuition. She also knows the importance of providing broadband internet to rural communities. Zimmerman is an outspoken advocate for ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment and hopes to tackle the Commonwealth’s environmental issues head-on.

Her opponent, incumbent Republican Delegate James Edmunds, prioritizes gun and hunting rights. He has routinely opposed commonsense gun violence prevention measures. He supported anti-choice legislation and opposed expanding Medicaid to 400,000 low income Virginians.

Janie Zimmerman is the more progressive candidate in this race due to her support of equity and environmental preservation.

Incumbent Democratic Delegate Dawn Adams is a doctoral prepared nurse practitioner with more than thirty years of diverse clinical and administrative health care experience. She currently resides in Richmond with her partner of over 16 years and their two dogs.
During her time in office, she successfully passed 57% of introduced legislation in 2019.

Delegate Adams’s legislative focus is health care, particularly around issues affecting elderly and vulnerable populations. She also wants to protect and preserve the environment, provide quality affordable education and to create infrastructure toward building healthier communities through better policy.

Her opponent is Republican Garrison Coward. Coward is currently pursuing his MBA. His campaign priorities ignore many issues impacting Virginians. He supports right-to-work laws that hurt unions and the families they are intended to protect.

Delegate Adams is the more progressive choice in this race.

Incumbent Democratic Delegate Betsy Carr was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 2009. She represents parts of the City of Richmond and the County of Chesterfield on both sides of the James River. Previously, she was a director of outreach for St. Paul’s Episocopal church in downtown Richmond. She is a grandmother of 6 and a mother of 3 sons.

Delegate Carr fights for progressive values, most recently by supporting the elimination of the suspension of driver’s licenses over unpaid court costs and fees and increasing funding for the 2020 Census.

Even though Delegate Carr is running uncontested, she is the more progressive choice for this race.