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Glass Ceiling on Statewide Offices Remains for Black Women

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Over 30 years after Virginia’s (and the nation’s) first Black governor, L. Douglas Wilder, was elected, a Black woman has still not been elected governor anywhere in the nation. Four candidates currently campaigning for governor of Virginia are attempting to change that.

Four Black women have entered the 2021 Virginia gubernatorial race. If any of them are elected, the commonwealth would become the first state with a Black female governor. 

Sen. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, and former Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy, D-Prince William, are competing for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. Former Roanoke City Sheriff Octavia Johnson is seeking the Republican nomination. Independent activist and educator Princess Blanding is running for the new Liberation Party, which she helped establish last year.

Former U.S. Rep. Shirley Chisholm, D-New York, made history in 1972 when she became the first Black woman to seek a U.S. presidential nomination for a major political party. Almost 50 years later, the road to electing a Black woman to a governorship or the presidency has yet to be traveled. 

“The next time a woman of whatever color, or a dark-skinned person of whatever sex aspires to be president, the way should be a little smoother because I helped pave it,” Chisholm said in 1973 regarding her unsuccessful presidential bid.

Jennifer Carroll Foy. Photo by Saffeya Ahmed.

Dearth of representation

Since Chisholm was elected, 50 Black women have served in Congress or federal office, according to the Center for American Women and Politics database. Ten Black women have held statewide executive offices such as lieutenant governor or attorney general, according to the same database. No Black woman has ever been elected governor, although former Georgia Rep. Stacey Abrams, D-Atlanta, came close in a 2018 hotly contested election.

Carroll Foy said the nation’s history limits what some citizens view as a capable candidate. 

“Unfortunately, people look to the past to try to dictate what can happen in the future,” she said. “When people see women of color running for higher office, we are seen as the exception and not the rule.”

Organizations dedicated to electing women to office, such as EMILY’S List, Higher Heights, and EMERGE, aim to make the paths to office more accessible in recent years, providing advice, contributions and peer support to women candidates. 

McClellan said when she first ran for a House seat in 2005, she had very little guidance and few mentors.

“There was no collective PAC, there was no EMERGE, you know, groups that have since formed to help Black candidates and women candidates and Black women candidates. They weren’t there,” McClellan said. “I had to really do it on my own, with help from the handful of people who had done it before me.”

Sen. Jennifer McClellan.

Media representation

The media often poorly represents women in politics, according to Political Parity, a research group that recruits and supports women candidates. Often, media coverage surrounding women running for office adds unnecessary details about a woman candidate’s clothing, weight, qualifications, motherhood situation and emotional maturity, according to the same report.

“Whether it’s questions about their parenting or their husbands, it’s just questions that we don’t see male candidates get,” said Kristen Hernandez, deputy director of campaign communications for EMILY’S List, an organization devoted to electing pro-choice Democratic women to office. “We’ve seen sexist rhetoric, misogynistic comments and racist tropes as well.” 

McClellan said perhaps the most consistent troubling narrative she sees in the media surrounding her campaign are questions about her qualifications. McClellan said she has more experience than all her Democratic opponents combined. 

“There never seems to be a question, when a white man runs for governor, but yet for us it’s, ‘Are you ready?’” McClellan said. “If I’m not ready after 16 years in state government, when would I ever be ready?”

McClellan said she also frequently sees herself and Carroll Foy lumped together in news articles, as they are both Black women who have served in the state legislature. A New York Times analyst hypothesized last month that McAuliffe might win the Democratic primary race because three of his competitors — McClellan, Carroll Foy and Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax — are Black, younger and generally more left-wing than McAuliffe.

Voters typically prefer candidates that most resemble themselves, according to a study published in an Oxford Academic Journal. This tendency suggests that Black women must also convince all constituents that despite being Black, they do not solely represent Black Virginians. Instead, most see themselves as the most qualified person for the job who just so happens to be a Black woman.

“I am not the candidate of Black America, although I am Black and proud,” Chisholm said during a campaign event in ’72. “I am not the candidate of the woman’s [sic] movement of this country, although I am a woman and I am equally proud of that.”

Even now the persistent myth that Black candidates can only win in majority-minority districts continues to plague America’s political scene, according to the Brookings Institute, a public policy organization headquartered in the District of Columbia. But of the five non-incumbent Black women elected to Congress in 2018, all were Democrats and four won in majority-white districts, according to the Center for American Women and Politics. 

Princess Blanding, sister of Marcus-David Peters, speaks to protesters outside the Stuart C. Siegel Center on the first day of the 2020 General Assembly special session. Photo by Andrew Ringle

Fundraising obstacles

One of the biggest barriers to elected office is the ability to raise campaign funds. The ability to fund a campaign continues to be a major obstacle to success for many women, not just women of color, according to the Brennan Center, a nonpartisan law and policy institute. The Center also found that candidates often receive party support based on their fundraising potential, which disadvantages candidates without notoriety, wealthy support networks or self-funding abilities. Donors who fund political campaigns are often wealthy, white and typically male, according to Demos, a Liberal think tank. These donors, according to the same report, also have different views and priorities, especially on the issues that matter most to Black women.

Blanding is the sister of the late Marcus-David Peters, a Black man shot and killed by a Richmond Police officer while he experienced what his family said was a mental health crisis. Blanding said fundraising is an ongoing struggle. She recalled looking at the first financial records report from the Board of Elections and said she could not help but “crack up laughing” at the amount she raised compared to other candidates. 

“But guess what? I have volunteers who are working around the clock to get the same results that they are paying for,” Blanding said. “That means a whole lot more to me.” 

Carroll Foy raised just over $1.8 million in the first quarter, while McClellan raised roughly half a million dollars, according to a Capital News Service analysis of fundraising reports. Carroll Foy resigned from her seat to fundraise. General Assembly members cannot fundraise until the session adjourns. Blanding raised almost $12,000 in the first quarter and Johnson raised $800. Altogether, all four women have raised just over half of what Democratic frontrunner and former Gov. Terry McAuliffe raised.

Aprill Turner, vice president of communications and external affairs for Higher Heights for America, said all women must run against a “boys’ club.” Higher Heights for America is a political action committee that seeks to mobilize and elevate the voices of Black women across the country. Turner said the path to elected offices has typically been paved by white men, and usually involves network connections and exclusive organizations that people of color and women have historically been unable to access. 

“You’ll see men groomed in a different way, or almost appointed,” Turner said. “Like, ‘You’ve got next,’ and kind of that little boys’ network.”

Jennifer Carroll Foy.

Will the statewide glass ceiling remain intact?

Former Del. Winsome Sears, R-Winchester, is running for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor. Sears was elected to a majority-Black district in 2002, becoming the first Republican to do so in Virginia since 1865. If she won the seat she would be the first Black woman to ever serve as Virginia’s lieutenant governor. L. Douglas Wilder was the state’s first Black lieutenant governor. He then became the commonwealth’s governor and the first Black man in the nation to hold the title.

Carroll Foy and McClellan will both compete for the Democratic party’s nomination on June 8. Johnson competes in the Republican party’s unassembled convention taking place statewide on May 8. Blanding will make it to the November ballot if she collects 2,000 signatures by June 8, which she is confident she will achieve.

Carroll Foy feels confident she will win the election. 

“We’re mobilizing and organizing more people of color, more people from the AAPI community, from the Latinx community, the Indigenous community, the millennials, more women than ever before,” Carroll Foy said, regarding her campaign. “We’re building the most diverse coalition of voters and supporters that Virginia has ever seen.”

Early voting is underway for the Democratic primary on June 8.

Written by Josephine Walker, Capital News Service. Top Photo: Four Black women are seeking a gubernatorial victory. If any one of them wins, they would make history as the first Black female in the U.S. to hold the governor’s seat. From left to right: independent Princess Blanding, former Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy, D-Prince William, Sen. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, and former Roanoke City Sheriff Octavia Johnson.

VCU Adjuncts Demand 172 Percent Pay Increase

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At VCU, adjunct professors make up as many as half of total instructors in some departments. Now they are campaigning to receive a living wage from the university that relies on their labor.

Roughly 100 Virginia Commonwealth University instructors are demanding what many adjuncts across the state want: a fair wage. Pay for adjunct instructors would more than double if requests are met. 

Adjunct instructors marched last week through campus to VCU President Michael Rao’s office to deliver their demands, which include a meeting with Rao on March 19 and a response by March 30.

Tom Burkett, a founder of VCU Adjuncts for Fair Pay, is an adjunct instructor at the VCU School of the Arts. 

“We look at our pay as one defining thing that can bring up the quality of life and the accessibility of teaching at the higher education level,” Burkett said.

The group delivered demands to the president’s office on March 4 because certain in-person and hybrid classes at the university began that day, Burkett said.

VCUarts employees first launched the group in 2017 because the majority of instructors at the School of Arts are adjuncts, Burkett said. VCUarts adjuncts comprise 51 percent of instructors, according to VCUarts spokesperson Teresa Engle Ilnicki. The university employed 691 adjunct faculty members this semester and 3,193 total faculty members last fall, according to VCU spokesperson Chris Katella.

Virginia Commonwealth University Adjuncts Organizing for Fair Pay walk together to VCU President Michael Rao’s office to physically present him a letter of their demands. Richmond, Virginia. Photo by Enza Marcy

VCU Adjuncts for Fair Pay is making demands for all university adjuncts, not just VCUarts instructors. Burkett said the movement was revamped because of the lack of living wage for adjunct instructors. VCUarts adjuncts were paid $800 per credit hour in 2017 and the group demanded an increase to $2,000 per credit hour, according to a letter addressed to Rao. Most classes at VCU are three credit hours.

“We saw a small pay increase, but nothing that substantially met a livable wage,” Burkett said.

The base pay is the same for graduate and undergraduate adjunct instructors and increased from $1,000 to $1,100 over a year ago, according to VCU spokesperson Michael Porter. VCU budgeted almost $400 million on all instruction for the 2020-2021 fiscal year, according to the university’s budget.

VCU Adjuncts for Fair Pay group now demands an increase in base pay from $1,100 per credit hour to $3,000 per credit hour, which is a 172 percent increase. The requested pay increase would bump adjuncts with a maximum teaching load above what some full-time faculty earn. 

VCU Adjuncts for Fair Pay, who want demands met by next semester, asked for a one-year contract for adjuncts. The group requested $1,000 compensation for cancelled classes because of the labor that goes into development. The group also pushed for a policy that would limit adjunct cuts as demands are put into place.

VCU Adjuncts for Fair Pay also wants access to health benefits. Adjuncts are currently not eligible for health benefits, according to Porter. 

VCU adjuncts can teach a maximum of nine credits, or three classes, each fall and spring under the Manpower Control Act. Adjuncts are also eligible to teach six credits, or two classes, in the summer. If an adjunct instructor taught eight classes, they would make $26,400 per year. 

The median household income in the city is just over $47,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Nearly a quarter of the city’s residents live in poverty, census data show. 

Adjunct instructors acknowledge their role as part-time workers when they sign contracts, Porter stated in an email. 

“Many of them enjoy the flexibility of a part-time position,” Porter stated.

Old Dominion University in Norfolk pays adjunct instructors between $1,043 to $1,263 per credit hour depending on the adjunct employee’s rank, according to ODU’s website. 

Adjuncts at Virginia Tech do not have a base pay, according to Michael Copper, compensation analyst at the university. The adjuncts are paid based on class demand and level of experience. 

Burkett said the group has about 100 active members from different VCU departments who attend meetings. 

“What we’re looking for is leadership that takes inequality and looks at it as a justice issue with the university and will respond,” Burkett said.

Photo by Enza Marcy

Jon Rajkovich, another member of VCU Adjuncts for Fair Pay and a VCUarts instructor, said he wants the university to become a model for paying adjuncts fairly. He is “rooted” with his family in Richmond and is committed to teaching at VCU, but he wants to see compensation for adjuncts increase.

“I think that could happen,” Rajkovich said. “Especially with the right administration in place; it’s possible but it’s an upward push.”

The petition circulated on Twitter and Instagram and gained support from gubernatorial candidate and former delegate Jennifer Carroll Foy. The group is grateful Carroll Foy supports labor movements, Burkett said. 

Carroll Foy said in a statement she’s witnessed Virginia schools be denied resources, and will work to ensure quality of public education.

“This disinvestment has hurt our educators, including adjunct professors who deserve to be paid a living wage and fair benefits,” Carroll Foy stated.

VCU Adjuncts for Fair Pay plans to protest until the university meets its demands. 

“It’s not about pitying us; it’s about creating systemic change at the university level,” Burkett said.

Written by Katharine DeRosa, Capital News Service. Top Photo: VCU Monroe Park campus; photo by Noah Fleischman.

Jennifer Carroll Foy Announces Plan to Protect LGBTQ Rights In Virginia

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Jennifer Carroll Foy is currently running for Governor in Virginia. If elected, not only will she be Virginia’s first female governor, she’ll institute a detailed plan to protect the rights and advance the interests of LGBTQ Virginians.

More than a decade ago, 57 percent of Virginians approved a constitutional amendment that defined marriage as a union solely between one man and one woman. Although this ban on same-sex marriages and civil unions was invalidated by the 2015 Supreme Court decision to recognize same-sex marriages, Virginia’s constitution still begs to differ.

Five years after Obergefell v. Hodges, Virginia’s constitution has yet to be amended in order to ensure that marriage equality and the rights of LGBTQ individuals are protected regardless of current court precedent. However, for Jennifer Carroll Foy, it’s a priority.

“Until all of our rights are secure, none of our rights are secure. And so, ensuring that we address equity and equality in Virginia in a real substantive way is truly important to me,” said Carroll Foy.

Having dedicated her entire life to giving a voice to the voiceless, the former delegate has unequivocally displayed her support for the most vulnerable and underrepresented communities that lie within the Commonwealth. And as a current candidate for the Democratic nomination for governor, she intends on expanding those efforts.

Carroll Foy has recently rolled out a new policy plan that outlines her goals of protecting the rights of LGBTQ communities against discrimination within the workplace, housing, public spaces, and the Virginia state constitution. “I’m here to fight just as vigorously for our LGBTQ+ community because they also need protection and to be treated as full class, first-class citizens,” she said.

Highlights of the plan include:

  • Amending the Virginia state constitution to be consistent with the Supreme Court 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision, reinforcing that marriage equality is the law of the land. 
  • Eliminating the LGBTQIA+ “panic defense” method that upholds leniency for violence on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. 
  • Instituting a statewide 100-day challenge to end LGBTQIA+ homelessness and to ensure that no person is without housing.
  • Championing a bill that clarifies the Virginia Human Rights Act by defining sexual and workplace harassment to include harassment based on an individual’s sexual orientation and gender identity.
  • Reviewing state-funded workforce development initiatives to ensure inclusive outreach, training, and hiring practices aimed at recruiting and retaining LGBTQIA+ employees.
  • Supporting legislation to establish a Virginia LGBTQIA+ Advisory Board to promote and address prominent economic, social, and educational issues for LGBTQIA+ constituents.
  • Continuing to declare every June as LGBTQIA+ Pride Month in Virginia, in order to further educate the public about the LGBTQIA+ movement.
  • Coordinating with the Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity to recognize LGBTQIA+ owned businesses and to ensure increased access to state-funded contracts.
  • Appointing an LGBTQIA+ liaison to gather recommendations to address barriers and challenges facing the LGBTQIA+ community and offer policy solutions.

Carroll Foy is not unfamiliar with making historic strides. She was one of the first women to graduate from Virginia Military Institute, and the first public defender ever to be elected to the Virginia General Assembly. And this year, she’s attempting to become the Commonwealth’s first female governor, and the first African-American woman to serve as governor in the United States. With this background, she’s aware that the values of all Virginians need to be reflected in order to lay a foundation for future progress.  

“We have work to do, because representation matters,” Carroll Foy said. “It shows that we’re able to bring a different lens, and our life experiences, to the bills and budgets that we create. That’s going to help the communities that have been the most harmed — and that’s what this is about. Virginians are looking for real change at this time, and change means a new leader with a clear vision and bold ideas on how to move Virginia forward.”

Photo via Jennifer Carroll Foy

The Million Dollar Question: An Exclusive Q&A With Jennifer Carroll Foy

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RVA Magazine spoke to state Senator and candidate for governor Jennifer Carroll Foy about career politicians, the relationship between police and the military, and making real progress in Virginia.

Last month, as the Virginia General Assembly debated a variety of police reform bills, RVA Magazine sat down with Jennifer Carroll Foy, a member of the House of Delegates, representing Virginia’s 2nd House of Delegates district in NoVA. A public defender and former magistrate, Carroll Foy was also one of the first women to graduate from Virginia Military Institute (VMI). Carroll Foy is a 2021 candidate for Governor of Virginia, and hopes to be the first Black woman elected governor in the United States. 

DD: Good afternoon, Delegate Carroll Foy, and thank you for sitting with us. You’ve been quoted saying, “The politics of the past are not the change we need, and the politicians of the past won’t save us.” Were you referring to your opponents in the 2021 gubernatorial race?

JCF: If we want real change, we need a new leader with a clear vision on how to move us forward. There are career politicians running in this gubernatorial race, and with this movement, people want change. [2021] will be a consequential election: trying to keep the majority, defeat this invisible enemy called COVID-19, and jump start our economy here in Virginia. It takes creative solutions, and the status quo isn’t working any longer.

DD: To voters who look at Terry McAuliffe and might imagine a potentially stabilizing force with the experience to help Virginia through a challenging time, what would you say?

JCF: Now’s the time for new leadership, because we’ve never had a governor who has governed during a racial reckoning such as the one we have now. No one has ever governed during a recession more akin to the Great Depression. No one has ever governed in addressing the global pandemic that we have currently. So experience matters — and you have to have the right type of experience. As a former foster mom, public defender, magistrate judge, community organizer, I am here for the people, and I’ve always been on the side of fighting for the people. Do you want someone who has real world experience and who’s in this for them, or someone who may be in this for themselves?

DD: Could you point to anything during McAuliffe’s governorship where you felt he was not on the right side of people’s interests?

JCF: The Mountain Valley Pipeline is something that should’ve never happened when we’re addressing climate change here in the Commonwealth. We’re talking about racial equity here in the Commonwealth, knowing that it was going to go through a historically Black community in Union Hill. There’s a number of things I can point to say, hey we can do better, right? 

Photo via Jennifer Carroll Foy/Facebook

DD: You mentioned “career politicians” earlier. Would you consider Senator [Jennifer] McClellan a career politician?

JCF: Yeah, she’s been in the General Assembly for almost two decades. [When I] say career politician, I mean people who are entrenched in politics. People are looking for a woman of the people, someone who understands a Virginian’s everyday struggle.

DD: Senator McClellan has supported progressive police reform bills during special session. For those on the left looking for legislative and policy contrasts between two gubernatorial candidates, how would you differentiate your record and platforms from McClellan’s?

JCF: While I’ve been in the General Assembly, I have been one of the most impactful and accomplished legislators, fighting for workers and women and families since day one. I’ve never taken a dime from Dominion, knowing they are a regulative monopoly here in Virginia. I’m for robust transformational policy, such as legalizing marijuana, reforming our criminal justice system. As the first public defender ever elected to the General Assembly, I have been championing cash bail reform and other policies to make our criminal justice system more fair and more equitable. Not because these are sexy, trending topics, but because I’ve always been in this fight, and I’ve kept all my promises made since I ran in 2017, whether it is cleaning up coal ash throughout Virginia [or] helping to expand Medicaid and give teacher salary increases.

DD: Increasingly, progressives are showing skepticism about the Virginia Democratic Party. Are you confident you can build a coalition to push through progressive policy?

JCF: Absolutely. I take it back to my training at Virginia Military Institute. Being one of the first women to ever graduate from one of the top military colleges in this country taught me how to work alongside any and everyone, because I am focused on the mission. 

If you are throwing around divisive rhetoric and are known for partisan politics, you won’t get anything done. How I’ve been able to be effective is leaning on that military training I’ve had and continuing, even in the majority, to reach across the aisle and pass a lot of my bills in a bipartisan fashion.

DD: Let’s talk a little bit about the military. 43 percent of the American military is made up of people of color. Many families of color see the military as their best hope for socioeconomic advancement. What are your thoughts on our American model, which leverages the promise of economic advancement to entice communities with fewer resources into the military and potentially into combat?

JCF: Going into the Armed Forces is an honorable task. Many people do it for many different reasons, whether it’s financial stability and security for themselves and their family. You go through a maturation process which I think is equivalent to nothing else, and it teaches life skills and politics. I think it teaches honor and integrity and public service in way that I don’t think you can get really anywhere else. I think it’s great and I would like to see more people, especially in this current climate, understand and acknowledge and respect the sacrifices that these individuals who enter the military are facing, especially with the recent attacks from Trump and some other cohorts, of questioning military leaders’ motives and calling people who are prisoners of war and died on the battlefield “losers” and things of that nature. This is a toxic climate right now, and I think we have to work vigorously to counter that with the truth. And the truth is the men and women in uniform are to be respected and honored above all else.

Carroll Foy during her time at VMI. Photo via Jennifer Carroll Foy/Facebook

DD: In my view, we have to differentiate between institutions and individuals. Observers have drawn direct links between US domestic policing and US international military actions, explicitly connecting regimes like Israel to US police training. Our government, via the CIA, also fought to uphold South African apartheid, by helping to criminalize and locate Nelson Mandela before his imprisonment. Given that you’ve participated in the US military establishment, do you have a critique of the US military’s connection to structures of inequality worldwide, and how it may also connect to our domestic policing issues?

JCF: I think that’s a really good question, and so to answer your question: have I really sat and thought about those connections? I haven’t. What I can say is that when you think of the military, you have to think of individuals who are taking orders. Right? We have a Commander-in-Chief you have to listen to, and so if a soldier is thinking about questioning or debating orders, you’re talking about people’s lives at risk. You’re talking about missions being compromised, and so the problem is when people who are nefarious use the military as an extension or arm or tool or weapon to strike against their enemies or people they don’t deem desirable.

DD: What about the mode of intervention of the US Military, where we essentially occupy sovereign countries and install governments via various modes of persuasion, violence, and politics — are you critical of that mode of operation?

JCF: Yes, so it’s a hard question to answer, and here’s why: when we insert ourselves into foreign countries’ policies and we bomb these countries or we do things that is to their detriment, then do I think we oftentimes have an obligation to assist and help in their recovery and to build them back up? Yes I do. 

I am not critical of the US military for taking orders, and doing something they’re required to do. I would be more critical of the legislators and the Commander-in-Chief who have ordered them to do so, and so it’s about questioning their motives and their logic for jeopardizing the lives of Americans, of citizens, of soldiers. So it depends on what country you’re talking about. It depends on why we’re there, how long we’re going to be there, why we’re occupying. That’s why it’s hard for me to give a specific answer because it’s just different, country by country, situation by situation. 

But for the most part, I understand what it means to be ordered to do something, and you have to obey that order. If we have an issue with it, then we need to take it up with the people who are making decisions and not the people who are executing and doing what they’ve been charged and sworn to do.

DD: Are you critical of our relationship with Israel?

JCF: So that is something that I have to say that I’ve been thinking about. I can follow up with you on that.

Carroll Foy and her son Alex at the General Assembly on the day Virginia ratified the Equal Rights Amendment. Photo via Jennifer Carroll Foy/Facebook

DD: Would you commit to completely ridding the Virginia State Police of its inventory of military equipment that was provided by the United States military?

JCF: There’s nothing that I can think of right now that I would have exception to, so I’m going to say yes.

DD: Do you support a complete banning of no-knock warrants in Virginia? 

JCF: Yes, I do support banning no-knock warrants here in Virginia.

DD: There’s a split among some of the leading activists: some believe that civilian review boards should be mandatory and legislated down in detail in the bill, and others believe they should be optional and that municipalities should each decide the way these boards look. Where do you stand? 

JCF: Yes, I initially favored mandating because I felt like that is the direction we need to go, and some communities or localities may be reluctant because this is change and change can be scary. 

However, I’ve been hearing from a lot of the same activists that you are referring to, and they’re talking to me about why they don’t want it mandatory and that they don’t want these localities feeling it’s being pushed upon them then it’s going to be a lot of hostility. I’m still debating how I’m gonna fall on that, but I can tell you initially I was definitely for mandating civilian review boards because I think that’s one of the only ways you’re definitely going to get it in the localities who, let’s be honest, need it the most.

DD: At the moment, we have a conservative Democratic establishment standing in the way of the most aggressive police reforms in Virginia. If you agree we need to move the needle as far as the priorities and agenda of the establishment, how would you do so?

JCF:  That has been the million-dollar question. Democrats aren’t monolithic; you have people who represent different areas. Sometimes we’re not able to be as bold and transformational as we want because we may be outnumbered by centrists or moderates, people who don’t believe in complete bold change. 

The way that you alter that is to continue to elect leaders who will be bold and transformational until they are the majority. Then you can push this type of legislation through. Until that happens, there will always be a wall there, or a siphoning off of bills or parts of a bill that we really need in order to make change. That’s what at the end of the day has to happen. 

DD: Do you have a message that you want to send to Ralph Northam, Terry McAuliffe, Dick Saslaw, Creigh Deeds, Scott Surovell — Democrats who have been active in diluting and stifling the more progressive versions of the bills?

JCF: I work with many of these people, and I’ve gone toe to toe with a lot of them on a lot of good bills. I just have to continue to advocate and lobby and hope they see the light. But I’m confident because I know Virginia is trending to be bluer, and there won’t be a place for people who want incremental change, or who want to teeter on the fence. I think the change we need is going to happen on its own, and I’m excited to be in the Governor’s seat to help lead that change.

Photo via Jennifer Carroll Foy/Facebook

DD:  The previous Commonwealth’s Attorney declined to bring charges in Marcus-David Peters’ case. Colette McEachin, the current Commonwealth’s Attorney, has said repeatedly that she’s looking at it. Richmond City Councilman Mike Jones has openly advocated for reopening that case. Do you have a position as to whether CA McEachin should reopen that case?

JCF: I do believe that the Commonwealth’s Attorney Office should reopen the case. It should be thoroughly investigated. He was having a mental health emergency, he was nude, there was no threat of harm or danger at that time — you can clearly see he didn’t have a weapon, given the fact that he had no clothes on.

Again, it goes to the lack of experience, the lack of training I believe these officers have, [the] crisis intervention training and de-escalation skills that they needed. They could have readily identified that this man is having a mental health emergency and called community services board and dispatched them out — come calm him down, and hopefully get him emergency custody orders so he can be treated. Oftentimes people are going undiagnosed, or they’re off their medications for whatever reason, and this is what happens. I have many clients like this, and I greatly empathize. I think the case should have another look at and should be thoroughly and independently investigated.

DD: What’s your position on marijuana legalization?

JCF: I support it so much that I am carrying the legalization of marijuana bill, even though some Republicans and Democrats have asked me not to. While I think that decriminalization will have a place in helping to reduce mass incarceration, it does absolutely nothing, according to a 2017 Virginia Crime Commission study, to address the racial disparities that Black and brown people suffer from our possession of marijuana laws. 

It’s time for Virginia to lead, and one of the things we can do is legalize the simple possession of marijuana for personal use. After that, we can tax and regulate it, and use that money for projects we haven’t had the revenue stream to be able to do.

I look forward to passing that bill next session. Statistics and polling show that the overwhelming majority of Virginians want the legalization of marijuana. It’s time for us to listen to the people we represent and get this done.

DD: Are you worried at all about the possibility of a third party on the left disrupting the Democratic gubernatorial race in 2021? 

JCF: It does not concern me. I’m not running against anyone else, I am running for the people of Virginia. At the end of the day, I know that I am the right leader for this moment, and that’s exactly why I’m running for Governor of Virginia.

DD: Are you confident your leadership is best positioned within the Democratic Party structure?

JCF: I’m a tried and true Democrat. People call me progressive, and that’s fine. I’m a strong Christian and I adhere to my Christian principles of housing the homeless and feeding the hungry and helping to make sure that everyone can work one job, put food on the table, have access to healthcare, and go to safe school. If that’s progressive, that’s great, but it’s just who I was raised to be.

Top Photo via Jennifer Carroll Foy/Facebook

Jennifer Carroll Foy Wants to be Virginia’s First Female Governor

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Delegate Jennifer Carroll Foy has been working for change since childhood. Now in her run to become Virginia’s next Governor, she’s fighting for affordable healthcare, living wages, social equity, environmental issues, and more. 

Delegate Jennifer Carroll Foy knew she wanted to play a part in social change since high school. Now this candidate for Virginia Governor and chief sponsor of the Equal Rights Amendment is ramping up her campaign, despite the challenges this year has brought. Even in the middle of a pandemic, election season doesn’t wait for anything; and although the coronavirus has put a damper on just about everything in life, the run for electing the next Governor is on. 

As delegate for the state’s second district, which includes Prince William and Stafford County, Carroll Foy says she’s running for governor because Virginians can’t wait for change any longer — and describes what it’s like running her campaign during a global pandemic. 

“I keep hearing the same type of stories,” Carroll Foy explains. “A woman has to travel fourteen miles to take her daughter to the local McDonald’s so she can do her homework. They don’t have access to the internet. [Then] I went to Portsmouth, and I shook the hands of men and women who work 40 hours a week and bring home $14,000 a year. So while some people are doing well in Virginia, not everyone is having the same opportunity to reach the middle class and thrive.”

PHOTO: Virginia Democrats Swearing In, via Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy

Carroll Foy started her years in public service when she joined the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC) in high school. After the Supreme Court’s landmark decision to allow women to attend Virginia Military Institute (VMI), she knew she had to attend. Carroll Foy became one of the first women of color to graduate from the state military school. She then pursued a Master’s degree, and later earned a law degree from the Thomas Jefferson School of Law (TJSL). She’s been serving her community ever since.

“I have seen the historic inequalities — in our educational system, our healthcare system, our environment, our economy — up close and personal,” Carroll Foy said. “I’ve experienced many of them myself. So as a working mom of two two-year-olds, working two jobs while paying a second mortgage every month [in childcare costs], and struggling with student loan debt, I can identify and understand the everyday challenges that Virginia families face. I live with them, too.”

Since 2017, Carroll Foy has committed her time to service in the Virginia House of Delegates. Along with sponsoring the Equal Rights Amendment, she has fought to expand Medicaid to 400,000 Virginians while helping with the unemployment process. She’s worked to ensure small businesses are tended to, and that kids still have access to school lunches during COVID-19. But unlike other seasons, this election season has proved to be a challenge, and no candidate is untouched by the coronavirus crisis.

PHOTO: Jennifer Carroll Foy

“My challenges I’ve faced thus far, and in this election, have been the same challenges that my companions are facing. In 2020 and 2021, it’s a fact that we’re running during a pandemic, something that none of us have seen in our lifetimes,” she said. “Then we have the civil unrest and racial reckoning happening right now, and [I’m] trying to lead in that area; pass policies that address police reform and criminal justice reform, while also dismantling a lot of systems that need to be up-ended and rooted in equity. One of the things that VMI taught me was to never get distracted about what’s going on. I’ve been able to do that, because I am not running against anyone in this race for Governor — I’m running for the people of Virginia.” 

In her time as a public defender for the state of Virginia, Carroll Foy has fought for and accomplished many acts of service. She recalls one of her proudest achievements during her time as a delegate, and describes the hard fight it took to accomplish. 

“One of my proudest moments [was] passing the Equal Rights Amendment. I remember fishing the idea to other legislators, that we need to make women’s equality the number one issue in Virginia, and I was told no,” Carroll Foy said. “That was a dead issue that no one was talking about. Luckily, there are advocates like Eileen Davis, who helped galvanize the VA Ratify ERA, [an organization] which houses advocates throughout the Commonwealth and the country to energize voters on this issue, such as Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated. That became one of the top issues on voters’ minds going into the voting booth in 2019.”

PHOTO: Jennifer Carroll Foy

After bringing to light issues of equality for women, Carroll Foy wants to bring internet access to rural Southwest Virginia and help families get out of the lower class. She’s completely focused on her goal, and says she has always been ready to fight for Virginians and their families.

“I am honored to be in a position to change the face of leadership in Virginia,” Carroll Foy said. “I am also focused on ensuring I bring diverse, high paying jobs to every corner of the Commonwealth.”

She plans to fully fund the education system to prepare Virginia’s children with a world-class education. She also plans to expand infrastructure — such as broadband internet access — to every corner of the state to “finally end the digital divide.” 

“As Governor, I will be able to help lead those changes,” Carroll Foy said, “and set the direction for who we are as Virginians and what we stand for.”

Top Photo via Jennifer Carroll Foy

Standing On The Right Side Of History With Jennifer Carroll Foy

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The delegate from Petersburg has fought hard for her place in the General Assembly, and fought just as hard to make Virginia the 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. This is her story.

A month into 2020, the General Assembly has entered a new era of historical change as Democrats have taken control of Virginia’s legislative body. One specific issue that has received immediate attention from the new Democratic majority is equality for women. And the first concrete goal for the state in order to advance that agenda was becoming the 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment.

This amendment to the United States Constitution, which passed through Congress nearly 50 years ago, would state that “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” In order for this amendment to become part of the Constitution, it must be ratified by 38 of the 50 states. And when, last month, Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the amendment, the ERA became a pivotal moment in history — both for Virginia and the United States.

Even before the beginning of the 2020 General Assembly session, ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment was a top priority for Democratic Delegate Jennifer Carroll Foy. But the fight for ratification was not just about the destination for Carroll Foy; it was also about the journey. 

Carroll Foy with ERA advocates on January 14, the day her resolution to ratify the ERA passed the House Privileges and Elections Committee. (Photo via Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy/Facebook)

Growing up 20 miles south of Richmond, VA in Petersburg, Carroll Foy was instilled by her grandmother with the idea that “You can do anything you put your mind to.” Taking inspiration from this phrase, Carroll Foy focused on her education, working to overcome adversity along the way.

“I remember being in high school, in my JROTC class, hearing at that time that there was a school that I couldn’t attend because I was a female,” said Carroll Foy. That school, Virginia Military Institute, was the last military college in the United States to refuse admittance to women. Carroll Foy was determined to attend, and after a 1997 Supreme Court decision ruled that the school would have to admit women, she did. “I was accepted, and then I actually graduated in the third class of women to ever graduate from the Virginia Military Institute.”

Carroll Foy continued to defy societal expectations for African American women, earning a Master’s Degree in English from Virginia State University, then moving to the west coast to obtain a law degree at San Diego’s Thomas Jefferson School of Law. When she returned to Virginia, she began working as a city magistrate in Richmond before becoming a public defender.

“Being a public defender and helping people who are over 100 percent below the poverty line was something I was really passionate about,” Carroll Foy said, expressing empathy with her clients. ”Those are kids, people with substance abuse issues, mental illness.”

By January of 2017, she’d decided to take another step to help the people she worked with as a public defender. She decided to run for office to become the Second District’s representative in Virginia’s House Of Delegates. During the campaign, she became a mother of twins. Initially bombarded with concerns of how she was going to manage life as a mother, a wife, an attorney, and a candidate running for a seat in the House of Delegates that had been previously held by a Republican, Carroll Foy grew frustrated with those who suggested she’d have to decide whether she wanted to focus on motherhood or her career. “Why do they have to be ‘or’s’? Why can’t they be ‘and’s’?” she asked. “Why can’t I do it all?”

Carroll Foy with her son Alex on the House floor on the day the ERA was officially ratified by Virginia’s General Assembly. (Photo via Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy/Facebook)

So far in her time in office, she’s proven that she can. As a legislator, Carroll Foy seeks challenges that offer an opportunity to alter the prejudicial and sexist paradigm. She wants to make sure change is made, and done so properly. “Equality is not something I’m willing to compromise,” she said.

Carroll Foy began fighting to pass the ERA as soon as she took her seat in the General Assembly in 2018. During the fight, she worked closely with Richmond-based advocate Eileen Davis, along with advocacy organizations like the ERA Coalition, Virginia National Organization for Women, VA ratify ERA, and the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

Before the 2019 election, she was unable to convince the Republican-controlled House Of Delegates to pass the ERA. At the end of that unsuccessful battle, she told Republicans, “If we can’t change your mind on women’s equality, we will have to change your seat.”

To Carroll Foy, the ERA has never been a secondary issue.“We have the equal pay act, but we need an Equal Rights Amendment as a constitutional anchor to really give those laws teeth,” she said. ”Once you start to pay women what they are worth, you lift millions of women, and millions of families.”

Carroll Foy isn’t just a one-issue legislator, though. She is currently working on legislation to end wage theft through a bill requiring contractors to pay what’s known as a “prevailing wage” — a wage matching the average paid to workers in similar positions in their industry. She’s also introduced the Pregnant Worker Fairness Act, which would require employers to make “reasonable accommodation” for pregnant employees, as well as a bill establishing a paid family and medical leave program through the Virginia Employment Commission. 

Carroll Foy addresses the House Of Delegates on January 15. (Photo via Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy/Facebook)

But the passage of the ERA has been a big victory for Carroll Foy, one she hopes will prove that Virginia is on a new course. 

“This sends a message throughout the country that we are now on the right side of history,” said Carroll Foy. “What this says is that Virginia has come to a turning point, and now with Democrats in control, we are going to fight for fairness, equality, and justice across the board.”

Additional reporting by Marilyn Drew Necci. Top Photo via Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy/Facebook