Senate District 029

Incumbent Democratic Delegate Michelle Maldonado is a former attorney and small business owner. She was born in Massachusetts and raised by teachers who instilled in her the importance of education, equity, and hard work. She received her undergraduate degree at Barnard College at Columbia University and her law degree from the George Washington University School of Law. She has lived in Virginia for the past 28 years with her husband, a U.S. Air Force veteran, and her son.

Del. Maldonado priorities addressing the climate crisis. She supports the Virginia Clean Economy Act and sees it as a great start for investing in green infrastructure and jobs. She co-patroned policy to add incentives for the preservation and restoration of local green spaces in urban areas. She wants to ensure Virginia’s infrastructure is resilient to the weather challenges that climate change brings. She believes that creating green-collar jobs in the fields of renewable energy, electric vehicles, and recycled materials will be great for the environment and workers. She has also co-patroned HB1721, a policy created to monitor the occurrences of microplastics in the drinking water.

As a small business owner and working mother, Delegate Maldonado prioritizes policies to uplift Virginia families. She supports living wages for all workers so that people can live with dignity as well as co-patroning bills that give workers compensation for workplace injuries and stressors. She believes that paid family and medical leave, and high-quality, affordable childcare options for parents help keep people out of poverty. Maldonado also advocates for equal pay for women and minorities and will fight for policies to prevent workplace discrimination. Del. Maldonado co-patroned HB2115, a policy to support those in need of unemployment compensation.

Delegate Maldonado supports educational policies that will uplift both teachers and students. She supports increasing teacher salaries and advocates for the collective bargaining rights of teachers and other public employees. She supports updates to school infrastructure, including new ventilation systems to provide clean air during the return to in-person teaching during the pandemic. She has voted in support of mental health education in elementary and secondary education. Del. Maldonado has also co-patroned to extend the eligibility for those seeking to obtain the Brown v Board of Education Scholarship.

Delegate Maldonado wants to ensure all Virginians can participate in our fair and free elections. She opposes any effort to create deliberate barriers to voting access. She recognizes that early and mail-in voting were crucial to keeping voters safe and healthy during the 2020 election. She knows that many restrictions to voting access unfairly target minorities and is dedicated to ensuring people of color have equal access to participating in our elections. She co-patroned HB1552 a policy that prohibits personal funds to be used during campaigns, as well as HB2049 which assists those with disabilities on where to vote at their polling location.

Delegate Maldonado is running against Sharon E Ashurst, a resident of Manassas for 33 years. Ashurts believes in funding the police department despite their various violent crimes towards communities of color. She has no plan to combat the growing threat of an abortion ban in the Commonwealth nor does she have a plan to fight the climate crisis we are in.


Due to her support for working families, the environment, voting rights, and criminal justice reform, Delegate Michelle Maldonado is the most progressive choice for Virginia’s 50th District
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Travis Nembhard is running for delegate in VA-22 to create a better community for his family and future generations. His focus is on lightening the burden for working families by advocating for universal childcare and paid family and medical leave. Addressing traffic congestion and tolling problems on I-66 is another priority for him. As a lifelong public servant, Nembhard aims to combat injustices, promote transparency, and work towards a more inclusive Commonwealth. His diverse career and community service background demonstrate his dedication to helping others and advocating for positive change.

Recognizing Virginia's 32nd rank in cost of living, Nembhard wants to preserve the earning power of Virginians by reducing day-to-day expenses. As the next delegate, Nembhard will advocate for policies such as immediate access to paid family and medical leave, universal pre-kindergarten, and a Working Families Bill of Rights with earned sick leave. He also strives to establish training programs for career changes and bolster opportunities for military service members, veterans, and their families.

Nembhard stands strong against legislation that threatens freedoms and adversely affects vulnerable communities in Virginia. As your representative, he pledges to safeguard voting rights for all citizens, preserve access to abortion, and champion a just and equitable justice system. Additionally, he advocates for the protection of LGBTQ+ individuals and marginalized groups against discrimination, affirming his dedication to defending fundamental rights for every Virginian.

As a Delegate, Travis Nembhard is dedicated to ensuring that every Virginian has access to high-quality healthcare, regardless of their background or insurance coverage. He will tirelessly advocate for affordable care initiatives, including the Cover All Kids program, to extend health coverage to low-income children. Nembhard is committed to reducing drug prices, strengthening pandemic prevention and response capabilities, and modernizing hospitals to improve medical outcomes for all demographics. His focus on equitable healthcare will leave no one behind in building a healthier and more inclusive Virginia.

Nembhard faces Republican Ian Lovejoy. Lovejoy is a long-time resident of Virginia. His platform includes cutting funding for crucial safety net programs and allowing the rich to benefit from tax cuts. Additionally, his support of universal school resource officers in schools is dangerous due to the continuous threat that Black people and communities of color face in regards to mistreatment and increased violence towards them by law enforcement.

Travis Nembhard is the progressive choice due to his stance on healthcare reform, protection of human rights, and education.
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Incumbent Democratic Delegate Candi King obtained her bachelor’s degree in political science from Norfolk State University, where she became a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Outside of the General Assembly, she works in the non-profit sector, making the educational system more accessible and equitable to special needs children. King and her husband, Josh King, reside in Dumfries with their three children, including a non-verbal autistic teenage daughter.

Delegate King was elected in January 2021 after a special election to replace former Delegate Jennifer Carroll Foy. During her first legislative session, Delegate King supported legislation that would allow essential workers to be eligible for worker’s compensation if diagnosed with the COVID-19 virus. This same legislation would also require hazard pay and personal protective equipment to essential workers during the pandemic. She supported legislation to prevent maternal mortality by establishing a task force to collect data on maternal health outcomes.

Delegate King co-patroned the Get Skilled, Get a Job, Give Back, “G3,” Program bill that grants free tuition at community colleges for low- and middle-income Virginians who study in certain fields. She voted for a 5% pay raise for Virginia teachers, hoping to retain quality educators and prevent high turnover and approved of funding to help schools reopen safely during the COVID-19 pandemic. She also sponsored legislation to require the state department of education to update its special education and related services to better accommodate students with disabilities.

Working to make the promise of democracy real for us all, she co-patroned The Voting Rights Act of Virginia. This bill expands on the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965, and prohibits discrimination at the polls. King voted for measures that make voting easier like removing some requirements on absentee and curbside voting and the requirement of a witness signature on absentee ballots in the time of an emergency. She also supported the establishment of drop box locations for voters to return their absentee ballots .

Delegate King focuses on combating the problem by introducing a bill that would give more rights to victims of sex trafficking and requires the state to identify and better respond to crimes involving sex trafficking. In addition to this, she supported legislation that would allow victims of sex trafficking to have their records expunged as they work to rebuild their lives.

Del. King’s opponent is Republican candidate James Tully who earned his bachelors degree at George Mason University. Tully is also a Marine Corp veteran and former Deputy Sheriff. Tully supports more funding for law enforcement despite their implicit excessive force, racial discrimination, and violence towards Black people and communities of color. Tully has no plan for to combat the growing threats to reproductive justice nor does he have plans to initiate environmental justice policies to ensure a safer Commonwealth.


Due to her support of public education, voting rights, and workers’ rights, Del. Candi King is the most progressive choice for the House of Delegates 2nd District.
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Incumbent Delegate Luke Torian has represented the 52nd District in the Virginia House of Delegates since 2010 and currently serves as chair of the House Appropriations Committee. Delegate Torian earned his undergraduate degree from Winston-Salem State University and received graduate degrees from the School of Theology at Virginia Union University and Howard University School of Divinity. Since 1995, he has served as Pastor of First Mount Zion Baptist Church in Dumfries. He lives in Woodbridge with his wife and daughter.

Del. Torian has done critical work to reform criminal justice in Virginia. He wrote and helped pass the 2020 Community Policing Act, which enforces the collection and release of police data. The increased transparency has helped reveal and address racial biases in the police force. He also voted to abolish the death penalty. He voted in favor of a bill to introduce automatic expungement of certain criminal records in the Commonwealth. This policy will help people with misdemeanor convictions on their record have access to education, housing, and jobs.

In 2021, Del. Torian carried legislation creating the VirginiaSaves retirement program, which establishes a state-facilitated retirement plan for those who do not receive one through their employers. This program helps decrease the racial and economic disparities in building long-term wealth and saving for the future. Torian also supported workers’ rights by voting to allow collective bargaining for public workers He also voted to raise the minimum wage and increase the salaries of teachers, social workers, and other public employees.

Del. Torian is also working to address the affordable housing crisis in the district. In 2021, he sponsored legislation to protect the rights of people living in manufactured home parks and slow down the foreclosure process, ensuring fewer Virginians lose their homes. He also voted to strengthen the rights of tenants to prevent evictions and to protect their health during emergencies like the pandemic.

Del. Torian has also worked to make healthcare more affordable and accessible. In 2018, he voted to expand Medicaid, which resulted in 500,000 Virginians having access to health coverage. He successfully passed a bill ending "surprise billing" by healthcare providers to increase transparency in the medical billing process and ensure Virginians are protected from predatory practices by insurance companies. Additionally, he voted in favor of ensuring abortions are covered by health insurance companies in the state exchange.

Delegate Torian is not facing an opponent this year and because of his support of criminal justice reform, working families, affordable housing and health care, Delegate Torian is the most progressive choice for Virginia’s 24th District. Close Window

A Prince William County native, Incumbent Democratic Delegate Briana Sewell was raised by parents who were each United States Air Force members for over 20 years. She attended Prince William County Public Schools, and then received her bachelor’s degree in public policy from the College of William and Mary and a Master of Public Administration from American University. She has since worked providing constituent services for Congressman Gerry Connolly. She also helped found the Virginia Campaign for a Family Friendly Economy, which advocates for paid family and medical leave for working families. During her time as Delegate she has patroned bills to support the improvement of education for students as well as protections for teacher licensure. She has also made efforts to reduce gun violence in the Commonwealth by co-patroning bills to conduct a study on the effect of gun violence in the community.

Due to her experience advocating for paid family and medical leave, Delegate Sewell supports policies that uplift Virginia’s families and economy. She worked to ensure federal employees receive 12 weeks of paid medical and family leave and other workers have access to sufficient leave and benefits. She also knows a well-funded education system is crucial to a strong economy. She will work to ensure school resources are equally distributed and every student has access to well-funded, quality education. She supports policies to lower the cost of college and fund other job training and vocational programs.

Delegate Sewell particularly understands how women play a critical role in the economy. A strong advocate for fair pay and anti-discrimination laws in the workplace, she will work to lower the cost of childcare to ensure parents can afford to stay in the workforce. She will also advocate for childcare providers, who are often women and women of color. She knows that economic and reproductive rights are inherently tied together and will fight for people to have access to abortion, so people can choose when and whether to become parents.

Delegate Sewell knows that paid family and medical leave must also go hand-in-hand with affordable and accessible healthcare coverage and chief co-patroned HB2035, a bill to establish the paid medical leave program. She supports efforts to regulate prescription drug companies and reduce prescription costs. The pandemic has further revealed racial and socioeconomic biases in healthcare coverage, and Del. Sewell will work to ensure there are no barriers to necessary healthcare.

Delegate Sewell has advocated for the environment her entire career. While working in Congressman Connolly’s office, she tried to reduce pollutants in the district by shutting down the coal ash pond nearby. She chief patroned HJ545, a bill requiring the Dept. of Energy to list the barriers that prevent local governments from directly buying clean energy. She believes that investing in green infrastructure will create high-paying jobs in the Commonwealth and will ensure that every citizen has access to clean water and air. She will work to fund green public transit options to limit emissions and traffic congestion.

Sewell is running against Republican John S Gray. Information on Gray’s politics was unavailable, but his string of extremely problematic tweets gives some clue as to where his politics lie. Among the tweets he paid to be deleted are racist statements made in regards to Black people and the BLM protests, as well as hateful speech towards other religious practices. He has expressed no regret for his statements.

Due to her advocacy for Virginia working families, women’s rights, affordable healthcare, and the environment, Delegate Briana Sewell is the most progressive choice for Virginia’s 51st District.
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