This morning, Del. Briana Sewell (D-Prince William County) announced her candidacy (see video, transcript and tweet, below) for the VA07 Democratic nomination. Sewell joins Yevgeny “Eugene” Vindman, who announced last week, in seeking to succeed Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA07), who on 11/13 formally announced (as had been expected for months) that she would not run for reelection, but run for governor of Virginia in 2025 instead. Other potential Democratic candidates for their purplish-leaning-slightly-blue district include: Del. Elizabeth Guzman (who has been telling local Democratic committees that she’s running), Prince William County Supervisor Margaret Franklin, Joel Griffin, State Sen. Jeremy McPike, etc. Stay tuned for more developments!
“When I think about all we’re living through right now, I think about all the history they’ve seen – the progress, the setbacks, the rights they’re still fighting for. I think about what my grandmother saw organizing in Selma, Alabama as a foot soldier in the Civil Rights Movement. I think about what my mother saw when she joined the Air Force after college; she worked so hard and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel.
I’m Briana Sewell and I’m running for Congress. The women in my family showed me the meaning of strength. They showed me what it means to serve a greater good and to fight for what you believe in. So after I graduated from college, instead of taking some corporate job in a big city, I moved back home and went to work – first for my hometown Congressman, to make sure my neighbors had a voice; and later I advocated for paid Family Medical Leave, helping start a campaign across Virginia. Then I ran for delegate and became one of the youngest women ever elected to state government. And it was your stories from around the district that inspired the laws that I passed in Richmond – laws increasing support for military families and veterans, adding more teachers to the classroom and expanding protections for child victims of sexual assault.
Congress doesn’t work anything like that…It’s discouraging that politicians selfishly want TV interviews more than they want solutions, making sure their side wins no matter the cost. Women like my mother mother and grandmother and folks all across our community have worked too hard and lived too much history to watch everything we care about slip away.
I’m Briana Sewell and I’m running for Congress, because I’ve always been taught to stand up and fight for what is right. You deserve someone focused on your neighborhood and not promoting themselves, someone who understands how hard it is to make ends meet and spends every day working to make things better, and someone who won’t let Congress take away our freedom to make decisions about our own bodies. If that’s someone you’d like to see in Congress, I’m asking you to join our campaign. I’m in this for them and for all of us who want a better future.”
I’m running for Congress to represent VA-07 because I’ve always been taught to stand up and fight for what is right. You deserve someone who understands how hard it is to make ends meet and spends every day working to make things better. https://t.co/Ov7kcF7egp
— Briana Sewell (@BrianaSewellVA) November 20, 2023
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