McClellan wins special election for Virginia's 4th District
Source: AP
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Democrat Jennifer McClellan defeated her Republican opponent in a special election Tuesday to win a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, where she will be the first Black woman to represent Virginia in Congress.
McClellan, a veteran state legislator from Richmond, prevailed over pastor and Navy veteran Leon Benjamin in the race for the blue-leaning 4th District, which has its population center in the capital city and stretches south to the North Carolina border. The seat was open after the death of Democratic Rep. Donald McEachin in November. McEachin died weeks after being elected to a fourth term after a long fight with the secondary efforts of colorectal cancer.
A 50-year-old corporate attorney, McClellan has represented parts of the Richmond area in the General Assembly since 2006, when she joined the House of Delegates. In December, she handily secured the Democratic nomination for the 4th District race in a four-way firehouse primary. A native of central Virginia, McClellan said in an interview ahead of the election that the history she will make as the first Black woman to represent the state in Congress carries extra weight because of her family’s history in the Jim Crow South.
Her father’s grandfather had to take a literacy test and find three white people to vouch for him just to be able to register to vote, she said. Her dad and his father paid poll taxes and her mother, now 90, didn’t vote until after the Voting Rights Act of 1965. “It’s a huge honor, and responsibility, to ensure that I’m not the last,” she said.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-virginia-state-government-north-carolina-2022-midterm-elections-richmond-b5a6fa87e084a575582885e1e5b5f72f
Congrats to her!
= new reply since forum marked as read
Congratulations to her!
I think this is the 2nd Dem House member win tonight!!!
Last edited Wed Feb 22, 2023, 05:35 AM - Edit history (2)
and not something like "223" (R) - "212" (D), which is what I wanted to clarify. I.e., the VA seat is not a Democratic "pick up", but a "hold".
As a similar example, here in PA, Democrats *technically* won a 1-seat majority in the PA state House last Nov. But because 1 of those members died just before the election (but was still on the ballot) and 2 others eventually resigned their seats to become a new member of Congress and a new Lt. Governor, the Republicans were being asses about who was "in charge". The 3 (D) seats were in very (D) districts and the special election held on Feb. 7 resulted in 3 new (D)s taking those seats (as expected). They were all finally sworn in and met for the first time "in a special session" yesterday.
In fact going into the Nov. election, there were 6 vacancies - some (R) some (D).
And during the 15 votes that McCarthy went through to become Speaker, there were (R)s who left over that weekend, so they were "missing" people until they ordered them to fly back. They were "elected" but they were not there to actually participate and vote until ordered to return to do so.
(above from here - https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/01/04/us/politics/house-speaker-vote-tally.html)
At any point during a year, the numbers can vary but obviously it's more pronounced and impactful when the difference between parties is a small number (in this case 5 seats).
but I wanted to assure the person I was replying to that the result of this election was not a flip from (R) to (D). The vacancy was a (D) seat and was replaced with a (D). 
In many cases, despite the total number of members of the House of Representatives being fixed at 435, not all of them are always there to vote (including having vacancies pop up - like what is going to happen in June when David Cicilline resigns to take over a foundation in RI creating a vacancy (although the district is blue so it's not expected to result in a flip from (D) to (R) in the special election).
And similarly if by hook or crook, Santos is forced to step down, then that will be a (R) vacancy (although in that case, the district is swing and COULD BE a (D) pickup).
The bottom line is, if there are 5 "missing" / "vacant" / "not voting" (R)s for any particular vote, then (D)s would have a "majority" (assuming they are all present and voting). So the numbers will fluctuate.
and a great story about her family's history and her rise in leadership in our government. 
Congratulations to you and to Virginia Democrats!
The top two vote-getters will be in the April Election. Too close to call the second-place winner right now, I guess.
I voted for the big winner!
I desperately want Wisconsin to make a comeback 
I have a sister-in-law from Colonial Heights, and from her discussions of it, this makes sense.
Benjamin won Dinwiddie, Southampton and Sussex in November but they went blue yesterday.
https://nytimes.com/interactive/2023/02/21/us/elections/results-virginia-us-house-district-4-special.html
Link to tweet
