RICHMOND, Va. -- State Sen. Jennifer McClellan's walk through the Virginia General Assembly building took a little longer than normal Wednesday as people stopped to congratulate her on victory in Tuesday's special election that landed her a new title: Congresswoman-elect.
"It sounds good," said McClellan of the title. "I'm still pinching myself. I'm so excited."
McClellan defeated Republican Leon Benjamin in a special election to fill the 4th District seat held by the late Rep. Donald McEachin.
"I'm excited. It's a little sad to be finishing up the session. I kind of feel like I'm graduating high school and I just got admitted to college and still got to finish my final exam. But I'm ready," said McClellan. "I think the voters of the Fourth District were ready to send my servant leadership to Washington. They were excited to send my record to Washington and excited to make history in the process."
Along with a large margin of victory, McClellan makes history as she becomes the first African-American woman elected to represent Congress in Virginia.
"It's a tremendous honor, especially to do it in the same district that sent the first African American man in John Mercer Langston. The city sent Bobby Scott as the second and Don McEachin as the third and it's a tremendous honor to join that legacy. It's also our responsibility to make sure I'm not the last," added McClellan. "There's a saying, 'I am my ancestors' wildest dreams' and I really feel that. But, I also feel that I have broken a ceiling for my daughter and little girls of color all over Virginia."
McClellan's election is also being celebrated by those that track the increasing number of women in Congress.
"One of the things we're always attentive to is opportunities to increase women's political representation, as well as to diversify the perspectives of women who are in office," said Kelly Dittmar, Director of Research, Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) at Rutgers University. "Her entry into Congress will mark a new record for women's congressional representation, as well as representation in the House. And it will also be yield a record for the number of Black women serving in Congress."
CAWP said once McClellan is sworn in 150 women will serve in the U.S. Congress, holding 28% of seats. 125 women will serve in the U.S. House, holding 28.7% of seats. Both break records held by the current Congress when it was sworn in last month.
"Now across the board, that means we're still going to be at about 28% of all members of Congress are women. So, we have a lot more work to do. But, it's still important to celebrate every milestone and achievement along the way in the path towards political parity," said Dittmar. "Diversifying both the perspectives, the lived experiences of those women who are serving is important in our discussions of why representation matters. And, of course, in addition to those lived experiences, she brings a breadth of experience in state legislative leadership party leadership and so, this is somebody who's bringing a lot of legislative experience to Congress."
McClellan said that while she is focused on finishing out the regular session of the current General Assembly, she intends to fight for the same issues in Congress.
"Voting rights, expanding access to health care, protecting reproductive freedom, addressing climate change, and transitioning us to clean energy and clean vehicles. Expanding worker rights -- particularly for domestic workers," said McClellan. "A wide variety of big, important issues that affect everyday Virginians. I'm very proud of that record and I'm ready to get to work to do the same thing at Congress."
McClellan said while there are still some procedural steps to get through, she will likely be sworn in sometime in the next two weeks.
