Incumbent Delegate Tran was first elected in 2017. She was born in Vietnam and immigrated to the U.S. following the Vietnam War. Tran graduated from Duke University and obtained her Master of Social Work from the University of Michigan. She worked for 12 years at the U.S Department of Labor. She and her husband live in West Springfield with their five children. Since her election in 2017, Delegate Tran has had 29 of her bills passed into law.

As the mother of five and president of her local Parent and Teachers’ Association, Tran understands the challenges facing Virginia’s public education system and wants to improve funding for schools. She supports universal pre-K. In 2021, she voted for a 5% raise for teachers so that Virginia can retain a talented workforce, address teacher shortages, and prevent turnover. She also voted for increased funding so that schools can reopen safely during the pandemic.

Tran supports abortion access and reproductive rights. She believes that medical decisions should be made by a person and their doctor, not politicians. She voted to repeal medically unnecessary restrictions on abortion providers in 2020 and provide abortion coverage on the state health insurance exchange in 2021. She supported offering a 12 month supply of birth control under state Medicaid plans.

Tran’s parents were able to seek asylum in the United States when she was a young child and she understands many issues faced by immigrants and refugees today. In 2020, Tran successfully sponsored legislation to allow undocumented people to get driver privilege cards in the Commonwealth and carried legislation to protect the private information of undocumented drivers the following year. She also voted to grant in-state tuition to undocumented students in 2020 and expand eligibility for state financial aid for undocumented students in 2021.

Tran believes the state legislature must take urgent action to address climate change in Virginia. She opposes fracking and offshore oil drilling and wants to update our power grid so that it depends more on solar power and offshore wind energy. She voted for the Virginia Clean Economy Act in 2020, which commits the Commonwealth to 100% clean energy by 2050. She sponsored legislation this year to hold polluting utilities accountable by making sure they are charging customers fair prices.

Tran is facing a challenge from the same opponent she faced in the last election, Republican Ed McGovern. He is a retired federal employee. McGovern supports using taxpayer money to fund private education opportunities like school voucher programs and opposes holding police accountable for the violence they inflict on communities. He is also against government efforts to keep our communities safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Due to her support of public education, immigrant rights, abortion access, and the environment, Delegate Kathy Tran is the most progressive choice in this race. Close Window