Virginia Delegate Briana Sewell Announces Bid for Spanberger’s House Seat

Voters in Virginia's 7th district wait in line to vote at the Henrico County Registrar’s office in a file photo. Win McNamee/Getty Images

Fresh off her Nov. 7 re-election back into the Virginia House of Delegates, Briana Sewell has announced she will enter the race for outgoing Rep. Abigail Spanberger’s (D-Va.) seat in the federal House of Representatives.

In a Nov. 20 statement to X, formerly Twitter, Ms. Sewell, a Democrat, said she decided to run for Congress because she was taught to “stand up and fight for what is right.”

Ms. Sewell currently represents part of Prince William, Virginia, but if her bid for the House is successful at election time, she hopes to bring a more down-to-earth perspective to politics because she believes that’s what the people of the United States deserve in their leaders.

“You deserve someone who understands how hard it is to make ends meet and spends every day working to make things better,” Ms. Sewell said.

“And someone who won’t let Congress take away our freedom to make decisions about our own bodies. I’m in this for all of us who want a better future,” she added.

Other candidates have jumped into the race for Ms. Spanberger’s seat as well, including former White House lawyer Yevgeny Vindman, who is most well known as the former national security aide who testified in one of the impeachment inquiries into former President Donald Trump. The Senate later acquitted former President Trump on all counts.

In an accompanying video statement, Ms. Sewell revealed she doesn’t think many of the current elected officials are making a difference and are too concerned with political point scoring and infighting to effectively represent the public.

“It’s discouraging that politicians selfishly want TV interviews more than they want solutions, making sure their side wins no matter the cost,” she said.

“Women like my grandmother and folks all across our community have worked too hard and lived too much history to watch everything we care about slip away.”

According to Ms. Sewell, her grandmother was part of the movement pushing for civil rights in Selma, Alabama. Her mother joined the Air Force and eventually reached the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Ms. Sewell says the women in her family showed her the meaning of strength and what it means to serve the greater good, which inspired her to start on the path that led her to this point.

“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,” she said.

“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.”

Ms. Spanberger signaled her intention to quit Congress next year to become Virginia’s first female governor.

Ms. Spanberger will compete with Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney for her party’s nomination. On the Republican side, potential gubernatorial candidates include current Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears and Attorney General Jason Miyares.

Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) speaks at the podium standing with members of the Problem Solvers Caucus in a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Dec. 21, 2020. Cheriss May/Getty Images