Virginia State Senator Jennifer McClellan Launches Bid to Become First Black Female Governor
Virginia state Sen. Jennifer McClellan announced on Thursday that she will run for governor in 2021, becoming the latest candidate to join the Democratic primary well over a year before the election, with a focus on combating racial injustice.
“We’re at a critical moment in Virginia where we have to recover from four crises happening at the same time: a health pandemic, an economic crisis, a reckoning with racial injustice, and a growing lack of faith in people in government’s ability to solve problems,” McClellan told The Daily Beast in an interview ahead of her announcement.
McClellan, 47, is hoping to make history with her bid. If elected, she would be the nation’s first Black female governor. After a series of victories for women in the 2018 midterm elections, the country has yet to elevate a Black woman to the governor’s mansion.
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