Historic First in Virginia

By Joseph Green-Bishop
Texas Metro News Correspondent

Jennifer McClellan, a lawyer and veteran member of the Virginia legislature has become the first African American woman from Virginia to win a seat in the United States Congress.

Congresswoman-elect McCellan takes the seat in the House of Representatives vacated by Virginia Congressman Donald McEachin who died of cancer last year.

A former member of the Virginia State Legislature where she served for 16 years, Congresswoman-elect McClellan will represent the 4th Congressional District in the state where she was born and lived for most of her life. Moments after her February 21st election victory she received a congratulatory phone call from President Joe Biden. She will join the Congressional Black Caucus with 27 other Black woman members of the House, after she takes her oath of office.

“To be someone who fought my entire adult life to address the lingering impact that slavery and Jim Crow has had on America and on Black communities……… To be able to do that on a national scale is an incredible honor,” she said of her new role in the congressional district that begins in Richmond and extends to the northern border of North Carolina.

While a state legislator she wasa powerful proponent of voting rights and women’s reproductive rights. Her opponent in the special election was a Black Pastor, Reverend Leon Benjamin who was making his second bid for a congressional seat. Rev. Benjamin ran as a member of the Republican Party.

“It still blows my mind that we are having firsts in 2023,” McClellan said of her historic victory. “My Ancestors fought really hard to have a seat at the table, and now I will have a seat in Congress. I feel a special responsibility to make sure that I am not the last.”

A single parent, the Congresswoman-elect said that she comes from a family of domestic workers and that her mother was the first woman in the family to complete the eighth grade. “I have got to keep fighting so that my daughter does not have to,” she said.

“Jennifer McClellan’s history-making victory as the first Black woman elected to Congress from Virginia will have ripple effects across the Commonwealth,” said Susan Swecker, the chairwoman of the Democratic Party in Virginia. “Her leadership will expand upon the outstanding progress and advocacy for which we remember Congressman Donald McEachin. I cannot think of a better way to honor his life and legacy than with the generation of leadership that congresswoman-elect Jennifer McClellan will bring to Washington.”

Joseph Green-Bishop is a long-time journalist who has published newspapers in America and Africa. Currently he is a news correspondent for Texas Metro News.