Halifax County

Incumbent Senator Jennifer McClellan is a Democrat who grew up in Petersburg. She serves on the board for both the YWCA of Richmond and the Richmond NAACP. She is also on the board of the Children’s Museum of Richmond and the Virginia League for Planned Parenthood.

Senator McClellan was elected in 2017 and is the only Senator that has been pregnant while in office. Prior to her election, she served in the Virginia House of Delegates for 11 years. She has proven herself to a pro-choice champion, sponsoring multiple bills to protect and expand reproductive rights. She has voted to raise the minimum wage and to increase teacher salaries. Senator McClellan also voted to expand Medicaid in Virginia and fought to put protections for breast feeding into state law.

Her opponent, Libertarian Mark Lewis, advocates for eliminating the minimum wage and expanding access to guns. He would repeal Medicaid expansion and supports school voucher schemes.

Senator Jennifer McClellan is the progressive choice in this race.

Incumbent Democratic Delegate Alfonso Lopez was elected to the House of Delegates in 2011. During his time in office, Lopez has been a strong supporter of workers and families, passing legislation like the Virginia Affordable Housing Trust Fund, fighting to strengthen protections for tenants against retaliatory evictions, working with the labor community to protect Project Labor Agreements, and fighting to save funding for Child Advocacy Centers.

Delegate Lopez is a strong supporter of increasing the minimum wage and organized legislators in Northern Virginia to successfully push the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) to increase the minimum wage for contract employees at our local airports. He is a reliable pro-choice vote. He supports the LGBTQ community, opposes any discriminatory laws, and supports clean energy.

Delegate Lopez’s opponent is Terry Modglin. Modglin is anti-choice. He wants to raise the minimum wage, increase education funding, and supports Medicaid expansion. He also wants to increase gun violence prevention and to protect the environment.
 

Incumbent Democratic Delegate Lee Carter was elected in 2017 as the first Delegate to identify himself as Democratic Socialist. In his first term as a Delegate, Delegate Carter has proven to be a strong supporter of reproductive rights. He opposes discrimination against the LGBTQ community and immigrants. Delegate Carter believes in criminal justice reform and wants more funding for public education, transportation, and expanded access to affordable healthcare. He supports workers’ rights and unions. Delegate Carter also advocates for clean energy.

Ian Lovejoy is Delegate Carter’s Republican opponent. Lovejoy supports market solutions to the health care crisis, and it is not clear that he would protect Medicaid expansion. His website lacks clear positions on key issues like reproductive health care access, increasing the minimum wage, and voting rights.

Delegate Carter is the more progressive choice in this race because of his support of Medicaid expansion, equality, and abortion access.