Back in September 2023, Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-VA10) announced the tragic news that she’s afflicted with a “modified diagnosis of Progressive Supra-nuclear Palsy, type-p,” and that she would “serve the remainder of her term in the 118th Congress and not seek reelection.” Since then, she’s carried on with courage, determination, grit and every other positive adjective you can come up with. Inspiring.
But now, sadly, the time has come to say farewell, so this morning, Rep. Wexton delivered her farewell speech to the U.S. House. See below for video, during which she talked about how Barack Obama back in 2008 inspired her to get involved with politics; ran for the VA State Senate and got important legislation passed there; stood up for transgender people, Muslim Americans, Uyghurs, the civil service, etc.; supported cancer research and survivors of domestic abuse; served through the longest government shutdown in history, two impeachments, a pandemic and an insurrection; was diagnosed with PSP and decided not to run for reelection, while pushing for more research into curing diseases like Parkinsons and related conditions like PSP; thanked her family, “Team Wexton” and her constituents, etc. She concluded by stating that she hopes “the most impactful legacy I can leave is in the power of perservance and persistence and in the belief that change is possible through public service and that change is coming if we’re willing to work for it.”
So with those inspiring words, good luck to Rep. Wexton, whose career in the US House was short (she was first elected in the “blue wave” of November 2018, along with Abigail Spanberger and Elaine Luria here in Virginia) but highly productive. She will be greatly missed!
“Madam Speaker, I rise today to share my gratitude for this remarkable opportunity to serve my community. As I prepare to retire from Congress, I’ve been reflecting on what brought me here. Despite growing up just outside of DC, I was very much not one of those people who envisioned themselves in elected office since grade school. But I did want to help people. That’s why I chose to be a lawyer and I was very fulfilled doing that work, especially the opportunities to serve as a prosecutor and later as a guardian ad litum for abused and neglected children and substitute judge.
Then one day in late 2008, I went just around the corner from my law office to Ida Lee Park in Leesburg to hear a skinny guy with a funny name talk about his message of hope and change and yes, we can. Hearing then Senator Obama speak was the first time that I stopped thinking that can’t be me and started thinking yes, I can. I believed him when he said that we could come together around what unites us as Americans and do the hard work of making life better for our neighbors.
And so my political career began in 2014. I won a state senate special election and went to Richmond as a bright-eyed new legislator at a time when the legislature still didn’t have a whole lot of people like me there. I was one of just a few women with school age kids and served in the minority. I learned quickly that my best ideas for policy come from my constituents. I heard a woman’s tragic story of losing her brother to an overdose and took action to make Narcan more accessible. I worked with a mom to help pass a law that gave greater benefits to single parents of kids with disabilities. Another constituent came to me about her horrific sexual assault story, so I wrote a law empowering victims of revenge porn to file lawsuit and recover damages from their perpetrators.
But then in 2016, another unlikely candidate for president led me to make a career change. I never could have imagined once again though it was the hope that I could help people that led me to run for Congress. I wanted to stand up for the communities who did not feel represented. I stood with our Muslim Neighbors at Dulles Airport to protest the Muslim ban. I became the first member of Congress to hang a transgender rights flag outside of my office. And as the child of two parents who had worked for the federal government government I became a vocal advocate for the integrity of our civil service.
But most of all I ran for Congress because of my kids. I went to Washington with the goal of making sure the stories of Virginia’s families were heard and that their representative was fighting for their needs. And I’m proud of what I was able to do, like working on legislation to invest in childhood cancer research in honor of a young constituent Gabriella Miller and her courageous battle; and
advocacy supporting survivors of domestic violence and abuse; expanding health resources for Capitol police in the wake of January 6th; and standing up for human rights of Uyghurs in China.
It has been quite the quote unquote unprecedented six years in Congress facing the longest government shutdown in history, not one but two impeachments, a pandemic, an insurrection. And in the midst of it all, I began facing the greatest challenge of them all – my battle with PSP. One of the first questions I asked my doctor after my diagnosis was if I could still run for reelection. His response – why would you want to? It was a very serious and sobering moment. But in truth, I had plenty of answers for him. Above all, I did and still very much do believe in the possibility to bring hope and make change in the lives of those we serve here. As I battled this disease, which robbed me of my ability to move and speak, I wanted to make the most of my platform to bring some good out of this terrible situation.
As I mentioned, my best ideas for legislation often come from personal stories constituents share with me. Now it was my own struggle that I hoped to help turn into meaningful change in policy. One of my proudest moments in Congress has been successfully helping lead the bipartisan National Plan to End Parkinson’s Act to become law – the most consequential legislation ever passed to tackle Parkinson’s and related conditions like my PSP. It will go a long way toward improving and saving lives.
This has been a journey which has been so challenging, yet one which I am proud to have stood strong in and done my part to give hope hope and comfort to others facing similar battles. Our disabilities and our health struggles do not define who we are and I feel more strongly than ever that it is so important to share that truth with the world.
This journey could not have been possible without so many people who share my belief that I could make positive change and conviction that there is real good to be done through public service. To my family, Team Wexton and all the people of Virginia 10, thank you – I hope I’ve made you proud. As I head into my final days in Congress, I’m choosing once again to have hope. People didn’t lose hope in me after my diagnosis. I have real hope that one day we’ll find a cure for PSP. I see reasons for hope every day, especially in young people women and girls and others who don’t traditionally have a seat at the tables of power who are discovering and believing in the power of public service just like I did all those years ago at Ida Lee Park.
I hope that the most impactful legacy I can leave is in the power of perseverance and persistence and in the belief that change is possible through public service and that change is coming if we are willing to work for it. Thank you, Madam Speaker I yield back.”
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