Virginia Delegate Briana Sewell enters race for Spanberger’s House seat

Virginia Delegate Briana Sewell (D) announced Monday that she is entering the race for Rep. Abigail Spanberger’s (D-Va.) seat in the House, just one week after Spanberger launched her bid for governor. 

Sewell, 33, was elected to her second term in the Virginia House of Delegates earlier this month, where she represents part of Prince William, Va. In her announcement video, she reflected on her grandmother pushing for civil rights in Selma, Ala., and her mother joining the Air Force after college. 

“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,” Sewell said in the video. 

“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,” she said. 

She said that she is working to represent the residents of Virginia’s 7th District because she has “always been taught to stand up and fight for what you deserve.” She also referenced standing up for abortions, suggesting that she won’t let Congress “take away our freedom to make decisions about our own bodies.”

Spanberger, 44, is serving her third term in the House after being first elected in 2018 to represent Virginia’s 7th Congressional District. She announced her decision to run for Virginia governor last week, which came after Virginia Democrats won control of both of the state’s legislative bodies.

Other candidates have jumped into the race for Spanberger’s seat. Yevgeny Vindman (D), one of the high-profile witnesses in former President Trump’s first impeachment trial, last week announced that he is running for the spot. 

This House race will likely be competitive in 2024 as Cook Political Report rates Virginia’s 7th District as “lean Democrat.”