House District 008

Virginia’s new 36th State Senate district encompasses parts of Fairfax County. With over 151,000 registered voters, this district leans strongly Democratic.

This election will be held on November 7, 2023. Democratic candidate Stella Pekarsky and Republican candidate Julie Perry will face each other in the general election for Virginia’s new 36th State Senate district. Perry ran in the 2021 District 86 House of Delegates race, losing to Delegate Irene Shin.

Stella Pekarsky is a small business owner and teacher who graduated from George Mason University with a degree in Government & Politics and a Masters in Multicultural & Multilingual Education. Pekarsky has served as the Sully District representative on the Fairfax County School Board since 2020. She is a youth advocate who is leading the lawsuit against Glenn Youngkin’s attempt to steal local control from our schools. She is also a member of the NAACP Education Committee.

The central issue in Pekarsky’s campaign is education and public schools. She believes in investing in our students, teachers, and schools while creating a robust learning environment. She supports increasing teacher pay and has already allocated over $100 million in funding for teacher pay increases and school infrastructure upgrades in the 36th District during her time on the school board. Pekarsky also believes in funding early childhood education programs and supports expanding programs to serve all types of students and their learning needs. Pekarsky promises to stand up and fight against Governor Youngkin’s attacks on education.

Pekarsky supports abortion access and supports a constitutional amendment to the Virginia constitution to ensure all Virginians have access to abortion and reproductive health care. Pekarsky has been able to help expand access to menstrual products for people across Virginia by volunteering her time with Bringing Resources to Aid Women’s Shelters (BRAWS). Additionally, Perkarsky has worked to pass comprehensive sex education and Title IX instruction policies in her time on the Board.

Pekarsky believes that no one in our community should live in fear of gun violence. She supports commonsense gun violence prevention measures such as an assault weapons ban and a ban on high-capacity magazines as well as mandatory background checks for gun owners. Pekarsky also opposes allowing out-of-state concealed carry permit holders in Virginia if they are from states without proper gun law precautions such as universal background checks. As a member of the school board, she worked to close loopholes and ensure that guns never even make it to school property and expanded the gun violence prevention curriculum in our schools.

Pekarsky also wants to ensure we have a clean and healthy environment for the next generation. She has refused money from lobbyists like Dominion Power and would support a ban on all campaign contributions from state-regulated utilities. Pekarsky supports a transition to 100% renewable energy while also creating high-quality jobs and lower energy costs in the Commonwealth. While on the school board, Pekarsky supported the electrification of the FCPS school bus fleet and invested in new, energy-efficient school facilities.

Stella Pekarsky is running against Julie Perry.

Republican candidate Julie Perry does not support abortion access and would vote to ban abortion in Virginia. She would give police more funding, but less accountability for their actions. Perry’s tax plan would cut taxes for the richest among us while cutting funding for critical programs we all need.

Due to her views on reproductive rights, environmental rights, gun violence prevention, and her advocacy for investing in our teachers and schools, Stella Pekarsky is the progressive choice for this race.

Virginia’s new 38th State Senate district encompasses parts of Fairfax County. With almost 157,000 registered voters, this district leans strongly Democratic.

This election will be held on November 7, 2023. Incumbent Democratic Senator Jennifer Boysko is facing a challenge from Republican candidate Matthew Lang in the general election for Virginia’s new 38th State Senate district. Senator Boysko has served in the State Senate since 2019, as well as the House of Delegates from 2016 to 2019. Lang ran in the 2021 District 36 House of Delegates race, losing to Delegate Ken Plum.

Incumbent Senator Jennifer Boysko and her husband Glenn have raised their two daughters in historic downtown Herndon, where they have lived since 1996. Senator Boysko has volunteered with numerous organizations in her community including serving on the board of NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia, now known as Repro Rising. She was first elected to the House of Delegates in 2016 and won a special election to the state Senate in 2019.

Boysko is committed to social justice. She supported legislation to establish hate crime protections for individuals targeted for violence because of their sexual orientation or gender identity and has voiced opposition to conversion therapy. In 2020, Senator Boysko passed a bill that requires the State Registrar to issue a new certificate of birth to show a change of sex upon request of the person. The following year Boysko also passed the Equal Rights Amendment to protect against discrimination.

She has been a champion for immigrant families, carrying legislation to provide in-state tuition to residents regardless of immigration status and establish driving privilege cards so families can safely get to school, work, and worship.

When it comes to healthcare, Senator Boysko has also prioritized protecting and expanding access to abortion and supporting families through establishing paid family and medical leave. She also sponsored SJ255, an amendment that protects the right to an abortion. Among her efforts to ensure all people of the Commonwealth have access to healthcare, Boysko helped to expand Medicaid coverage and sponsored legislation that would require doula care to be covered by insurance.

Boysko also champions environmental protection. Understanding that everyone should have access to clean and safe air and water, Boysko sponsored legislation that required all localities to make sure that their energy codes were energy efficient and infrastructure for electric vehicle charging stations. Additionally, she passed legislation to include electric vehicles as a part of Virginia’s Energy Plan in order to address the poor air quality and excessive heat are issues in the Commonwealth.

Her opponent, Republican Matthew Lang, is a retired Navy veteran with a degree in Criminal Justice and Security Management. Lang wants to increase the police budget, despite ongoing reports of police brutality. He also runs his campaign on his promise to back veterans and armed forces by expanding career opportunities for them and their spouses as they transition back to civilian life.

Senator Boysko’s stance on healthcare, equality for all, and support for environmental protection make her the progressive choice for this race.

Virginia’s new 8th District in the House of Delegates encompasses parts of Fairfax County. With almost 55,000 registered voters, this district leans strongly Democratic.

This election will be held on November 7, 2023. Incumbent Democratic Delegate Irene Shin faces a challenge from Republican candidate Max Fisher in the general election for Virginia’s new 8th District in the House of Delegates. Delegate Shin has served in the House of Delegates since 2022.

Incumbent Delegate Irene Shin is running to represent the 8th District in the House of Delegates. Delegate Shin is the daughter of Korean immigrants and originally from Los Angeles. She received her bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of California Riverside and currently serves as executive director for the Virginia Civic Engagement Table. She has worked on several political campaigns and nonprofits. Shin also worked as a finance director for Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2015 successful bid for U.S. Senate.

Access to affordable healthcare is a top priority for Del.Shin. As a teen, she witnessed her father travel back to Korea for a life-changing surgery for cancer, as it was more affordable to get treatment in his home country. She supports lowering the cost of prescription drugs and ending the practice of “surprise billing” to protect patients from unexpected charges after undergoing medical treatment. She also wants to make access to mental healthcare available to all Virginians and will push for early mental health screening at public schools.

If elected, Del. Shin will fight for LGBTQ+ and women’s rights. She will advocate for legislation to prevent bullying or discrimination along the lines of sexual orientation or gender identity. She supports the constitutional amendment that removes the ban on gay marriage in the Commonwealth. Del. Shin believes in protecting abortion access and making birth control affordable. She also wants to pass paid family and medical leave so women can remain valuable members of the workforce.

Del. Shin wants to work to reform the criminal justice system to reduce its harmful impact on communities of color. She plans to address mass incarceration by ending mandatory minimums for nonviolent crimes. She supports banning qualified immunity for police officers, a practice that shields them from accountability for violating people’s civil rights. She advocates for banning the sale of assault weapons and supports recent legislation that requires mandatory background checks on all gun sales and purchases.

Del. Shin believes in making the promise of democracy real for us all by expanding access to the ballot to all voters. She supports removing deliberate barriers that restrict voting access, making vote by mail easier and automatic voter registration. In 2020, she successfully led a coalition of organizations to pressure the state government to extend its voter registration deadline after the online registration system failed. Del. Shin will also work to reform Virginia campaign finance laws using her four-step “Ethical Virginia Campaign Reform Package,” to limit the influence of rich donors in our elections.

Delegate Shin is running against Republican candidate Max Fisher, who runs as a “representation of the average citizen” and builds his campaign on “principled conservatism.” Fisher studied Politics and Communications at Marymount University. His platform points include, protecting voter’s rights, campaign finance reform, and protections for veterans and people with disabilities.

Due to her support of criminal justice reform, affordable healthcare, expanding access to voting , and equality, Delegate Shin is the most progressive choice in this election.