This election will be held on November 4, 2025. Incumbent Independent Delegate Sam Rasoul faces a challenge from Independent Maynard Keller in HD-38.

Virginia’s House District 38 spans portions of Roanoke City in Virginia’s Blue Ridge region. In the 2024 election it remained a strong Democratic district by comfortable double-digit margins.

Incumbent Democratic Delegate Sam Rasoul is the first Muslim legislator in Virginia history and a third-generation Roanoke Valley native whose immigrant and Appalachian roots shape his inclusive vision for Southwest Virginia. A University of Virginia Commerce graduate, he built a career as a nonprofit director, small-business coach, and healthcare policy analyst before his election in 2013. He lives in Roanoke with his wife and three children. Rasoul led the successful effort to fully expand Medicaid and championed a $15 minimum wage, paid family and medical leave, and fair-scheduling laws to protect hourly workers. He backs universal pre-K, increased per-pupil funding for underserved districts, and landmark clean-energy and transportation decarbonization bills. His criminal justice reforms, alongside robust immigrant- and voting-rights protections, cement his reputation as a pragmatic progressive dedicated to economic and racial equity.
Committee Assignments: Appropriations (Elementary & Secondary Education Subcommittee Chair), Education (Chair), Public Safety (Public Safety Subcommittee Chair)

Delegate Rasoul led the fight to expand Medicaid to cover over 400,000 low-income Virginians. He has championed a $15 minimum wage, paid family and medical leave, and fair-scheduling rules for hourly workers. He backs universal pre-K and boosted per-pupil funding to close gaps in underserved districts.

He patroned the Green New Deal Act and has championed transportation decarbonization bills to cut emissions.

He pushed criminal justice reforms like ending cash bail for nonviolent offenses and abolishing juvenile shackling, alongside robust immigrant- and voting-rights protections.

He co-patroned and voted for proposed Constitutional Amendments to protect reproductive freedom and marriage equality, and automatically restore voting rights to people upon release from incarceration.

The Opposition

Maynard Keller is running as an independent for Virginia’s 38th House District after living and raising his family in Roanoke since 1994. His self-styled nonpartisan campaign pledges to “revive Roanoke through jobs, affordability, and security” rather than advance a defined policy agenda. His campaign has outlined some broad goals but offers few specifics on expanding Medicaid, protecting reproductive rights, bolstering workers’ collective bargaining, or tackling the climate crisis. Progressive voters may withhold support given his lack of concrete plans on social safety-net expansion, environmental justice, and equitable 

Recommendation

Based on his record of legislative achievements, including Medicaid expansion, and his strong support for progressive policy proposals like the Green New Deal, Delegate Sam Rasoul is the progressive candidate in this race.