Prince William County

Virginia’s 7th district includes 9 counties and parts of Prince William County and Albemarle  County. With a population of 798,820, this district leans Democratic and Republican.

This election will be held on November 8, 2022. Incumbent Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger (D), a former operations officer with the CIA, has held the District 7 seat since 2021 and is running for re-election against Yesli Vega (R), a law enforcement officer.

Incumbent Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger (D), is a former CIA case officer. She was previously a federal law enforcement officer, dealing with narcotics and money laundering cases with the US Postal Inspection Service. She prides herself on her bipartisanship and has served in Congress since 2019. Currently, she sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and House Agriculture Committee. She grew up in Henrico County, attended the University of Virginia, and received an MBA from the GISMA and Purdue University.

Spanberger considers climate change a direct threat to our future. She chairs the Conservation and Forestry Subcommittee on the US House Agriculture Committee. In 2019, she helped introduce the Climate Action Now Act, which would require the U.S. to remain in the Paris Climate Agreement. She introduced the bipartisan Growing Climate Solutions Act, the Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure for Farmers Act, and the Healthy Soil, Resilient Farmers Act. Spanberger also pushed legislation requiring the recognition of climate change as a national threat and cosponsored legislation to require the EPA to test for lead contamination in school’s water supplies.

As a former federal law enforcement officer, Spanberger understands first hand how injustices within the criminal justice system can endanger families. Spanberger supports criminal justice reform and advocates for policies that address addiction in jails and prisons. She is committed to pushing policies that ban no-knock warrants and chokeholds, and would like to see improved anti-bias training, increasing accountability, and limiting militarization of the police. Spanberger co-sponsored the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. She prioritizes legislation that reduces mass incarceration and ends the school-to-prison pipeline.

Additionally, Spanberger believes in the necessity of commonsense gun violence prevention. She refers to gun violence as an epidemic and a public safety issue. She cosponsored the Bipartisan Background Checks Act, which would require universal background checks on all firearm purchases. She also voted in favor of the Enhanced Background Checks Act, the Protecting Our Kids Act, and the US Senate’s bipartisan gun violence prevention legislation. Spanberger is a member of the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force and cosponsored the Threat Assessment, Prevention, and Safety Act.

Spanberger is supports bodily autonomy and considers reproductive healthcare as a social and economic necessity. She believes the overturning of Roe v. Wade will have massive consequences across the country. She supports federal funding for Planned Parenthood and other providers of essential healthcare screenings and preventative services for all. Spanberger is a member of the Black Maternal Health Caucus and worked with other members of the caucus to introduce the “Momnibus Bill” to address the nation’s crisis in Black maternal mortality. She voted in favor of the American Rescue Plan and the Inflation Reduction Act.

Yesli Vega (R), is a military wife and law enforcement officer. She has spoken out against abortion access and has stated she will support a law to “protect innocent life from conception.” She also stands against gay marriage. Additionally, she supports stricter imigration policies and stronger gun rights.

Due to her commitments to reproductive freedom and rights, racial justice, and gun violence prevention, Incumbent Abigail Spanberger is the more progressive candidate in this race.

Virginia’s 10th district includes 5 counties, and parts of Prince William County and Fairfax County. With a population of 784,684, this district leans both Democratic and Republican.

This congressional election will be held on November 8, 2022. Incumbent congresswoman, lawyer Jennifer Wexton (D), who has held the District 10 seat since 2019, is running for re-election against Hung Cao (R), a retired Navy Captain who served in Special Operations.

Incumbent Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton (D) has served in the House of Representatives since 2019. Previously, she served in the Virginia State Senate, representing the 33rd District. As a lawyer, she served as an Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney for Loudoun County. She has spent years advocating for abused and neglected children, both through her work in the courtroom and in the legislature. During her first term in Congress, she introduced 17 pieces of legislation and passed four bipartisan bills in the House.

Wexton recognizes the failings of the criminal justice system. She passed legislation at the state level to promote alternatives to suspension to combat Virginia’s school-to-prison pipeline. She also recognizes the injustices toward Black Americans and co-sponsored the Justice of Policing Act of 2020, which put forth sweeping reforms to address discriminatory and excessive policing practices. Wexton supports reforming mandatory minimums, ending use of for-profit private prisons, reentry programs, voting rights restoration, and decriminalizing possession of marijuana.

Wexton advocates for gun violence prevention. As a state legislator, she pushed for universal background checks, banning bump stocks, extreme risk protection order laws, and other methods of reform. In Congress, Wexton sustained her support for gun reform through legislation to expand mandatory background checks, bans on sales of military-style assault weapons, and studies on gun violence as a public health issue. She co-sponsored the Assault Weapons Ban of 2019 and introduced the Gun Violence Prevention Through Financial Intelligence Act. She voted to pass the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019.

Wexton advocates for fairness and equal opportunity for all. She introduced the Ensuring Equal Access to Shelter Act of 2019, a ban on discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in housing. She cosponsored legislation to prohibit discrimination in public employment. Wexton supported bills aimed at removing the same-sex marriage ban in the Virginia Constitution, expanding Virginia’s hate crimes statute to include the LGBTQ community, and end conversion therapy. She is a member of the Congressional LGBTQ Equality Caucus and the Transgender Equality Task Force. She supported H.R. 124, which rejected the Trump-Pence administration’s transgender military ban.

Wexton recognizes the importance of immigration reform and rights. She consistently spoke out against Republican attacks on immigrant communities. She supports comprehensive immigration reform that includes a pathway to citizenship. Additionally, she supports legislation that protects DREAMers and shuts down private detention centers. She voted for the bipartisan American Dream and Promise Act of 2019. Wexton opposed building a border wall, instead urging the funds be used to defend national security.

Wexton is facing Republican Hung Cao, a retired Navy Captain who served in Special Operations. He claims that masks and lockdowns have done little to halt the spread of COVID-19 and pushes the use of off-label alternatives for treatment. He condemns the Mar-a-Lago raid. Cao opposes gun reform and abortion access.

Due to her commitment to criminal justice reform, gun violence prevention, and immigration and equality advocacy, Jennifer Wexton is the more progressive candidate in the race for Virginia’s 10th Congressional District.