Landmark victory for lawmaker in Virginia
She’ll be the first Black woman in state to serve in House of Reps.
Virginia Rep.-elect Jennifer McClellan made history by becoming the first Black woman to represent the state in Congress after she romped to victory in a special election that signaled a solid political environment for Democrats.
McClellan, a Richmond state senator, rolled to a blowout nearly 3-to-1 victory Tuesday over a little-known Republican in Virginia’s 4th Congressional District to win a seat left open by the death from cancer of late Democratic Rep. Donald McEachin.
“My ancestors fought really hard to have a seat at that table,” McClellan said in a victory speech. “I’ll be able to bring that policymaking table into communities that never really had a voice before.”
McClellan said she wished she didn’t have to be the first Black woman from Virginia to fill such a prominent post.
“It still blows my mind that we’re having firsts in 2023,” McClellan told NBC News.
McClellan took a congratulatory call from President Biden and was praised Wednesday for shattering the “concrete ceiling” by future colleague Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.).
Once McClellan is sworn into office, Republicans will have a 222-to-213 edge in the House, one less than the 10-vote majority it had earlier.
McClellan’s new district, which heads south from Richmond to the North Carolina line, is solidly Democratic and McClellan’s win was never in doubt. But McClellan dramatically outperformed McEachin’s winning margins in the two most recent congressional elections, in 2022 and 2020.
That could provide an important clue that the national political mood leans toward Democrats because special elections often accurately predict the results of general elections in the fall, political analysts say.
For example, a big win by Rep. Patrick Ryan (D-N.Y.) in a Hudson Valley swing district last summer was a strong indicator that Democrats would do better than expected in the fall midterm elections.
Meanwhile, liberal-leaning Wisconsin Judge Janet Protasiewicz won 46% of the vote to finish far ahead of conservative challenger Daniel Kelly in a race for an open state Supreme Court seat.
Protasiewicz and Kelly now head for an unusual April 4 judicial general election in which the liberal will be the odds-on choice to win.
With the Wisconsin Supreme Court otherwise split 3 to 3, the winner will likely become a crucial deciding vote on hot-button issues like abortion, union rights and especially voting rights.