Campaign Website:
https://jenniferwexton.com/

Campaign POC:

Phone Number: 571-207-8452

Campaign Email: info@jenniferwexton.com

Vetting Panel Selected: NA

Structured Interview Completed: Refused

Biography: Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton has been serving the people of Northern Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley for over two decades as a prosecutor, attorney, advocate for abused children, and state Senator. During her five years in the General Assembly, she passed more than 40 bipartisan bills, all while serving in the minority.

Now in Congress, Congresswoman Wexton has found success in working across the aisle to deliver results to better the lives of Virginia’s children and families. Wexton passed bipartisan legislative initiatives to expand funding for opioid addiction research, safeguard Americans’ retirement savings during the COVID-19 crisis, protect leave benefits for federal workers, modernize the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, allow student veterans to use their benefits to study overseas, and ensure that leaders receive information about foreign disinformation campaigns on social media aimed at undermining U.S. elections.

Congresswoman Wexton serves on the powerful House Appropriations Committee, where she is responsible for securing funding for all of the government’s spending programs. Specifically, her subcommittee assignments focus on funding for transportation and housing, foreign operations, and the legislative branch. Wexton is also a member of the House Budget Committee, which provides oversight of the legislative budget process.

Wexton is the founder of the Congressional Task Force on Digital Citizenship, which aims to help better equip Americans with tools and resources to use technology and engage online responsibly in an increasingly digital world, and the bipartisan Congressional Agritourism Caucus, which supports the agritourism industry and  highlights its importance to local economies and communities. Wexton is also a member of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, where she is working to combat human rights abuses.

A native of the Washington area, Wexton graduated with honors from the University of Maryland in College Park, and earned her law degree from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. She lives in Leesburg with her husband, two sons, and two rescued labrador retrievers. (Source: https://wexton.house.gov/)

Why you? No information available.

What are your priorities? See website for detailed information of issues. Specific points of interest to CFV have been identified below and sourced. (Source: https://jenniferwexton.com/?post_type=issues)

Criminal Justice Reform

Disability Rights

Education

Environment

Gun violence Prevention (see below regarding the 2nd Amendment)

Healthcare

Heroin and Opioid Crisis

Immigration

Jobs and the Economy (see below regarding free markets)

LQBTQ Rights

Protecting our Children

Supporting our Veterans (see below regarding national defense)

Transportation and Infrastructure

Voting Rights

Women’s Rights (see below regarding abortion)

Coalitions and Caucuses (as demonstration of personal priorities)

Representative Wexton is the founder of:

• Congressional Agritourism Caucus, Co-Chair

• Congressional Task Force on Digital Citizenship

Representative Wexton serves as a member of the following coalitions:

• Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), Associate Member

• Congressional LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus, Vice Chair and Co-Chair of the Transgender Equality Task Force (TETF)

• Moms in the House Caucus

• New Democratic Coalition

• Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition

Representative Wexton serves as a member of the following caucuses:

• Animal Protection Caucus

• Appalachian National Scenic Trail Caucus

• Baby Caucus

• Black Maternal Health Caucus

• Chesapeake Bay Task Force

• Childhood Cancer Caucus

• Human Trafficking Caucus

• Lyme Disease Caucus

• Rare Disease Caucus

• Pro-Choice Caucus

• Small Brewers Caucus

• Wine Caucus (Source: https://wexton.house.gov/)

Endorsements: No information available.

Education: A native of the Washington area, Jennifer graduated with honors from the University of Maryland in College Park, and earned her law degree in 1995 from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. (Source: https://wexton.house.gov/)

Relevant Employment History: No information available. 

Military Experience / Branch / Years of Service / Rank / Type of Discharge: No information available. 

Past Offices Held and Tenure: Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton has been serving the people of Northern Virginia and Shenandoah Valley for nearly two decades as a prosecutor, advocate for abused children, state Senator, and now a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia’s 10th District. (Source: https://wexton.house.gov/)

Community Service: No information available.

Leadership Experience: No information available. 

Personal Strengths: No information available.

What is the most important thing Virginians need to know about you?  No information available.

How would your friends and family describe you? No information available. 

What are your thoughts on the Constitution as the Law of the Land? Professes values contrary to values and beliefs of Chasing Freedom – Virginia. (Source: https://wexton.house.gov/)

What are your thoughts on religious liberty? Professes values contrary to values and beliefs of Chasing Freedom – Virginia. (Source: https://wexton.house.gov/)

What are your thoughts on the preservation of our history? Professes values contrary to values and beliefs of Chasing Freedom – Virginia. (Source: https://wexton.house.gov/)

What are your thought on government transparency? Professes values contrary to values and beliefs of Chasing Freedom – Virginia. (Source: https://wexton.house.gov/)

What are your thoughts on national defense? From her time in the State Senate, on the Board of Veterans Services, and in Congress, Jennifer has fought for Virginia’s veterans and their families. In the state Senate, Jennifer supported measures that increase resources for mental health services for active duty and retired military, expanded veteran entrepreneurship programs, eradicated veteran homelessness in Virginia, made it easier for service members to vote overseas, and lowered tuition and fees while expanding veterans’ resources on community college campuses.

Jennifer believes we should never send our men and women into war without ensuring the care and resources they and their families need is in place when they return home. In Congress, Jennifer continues to be an advocate for our active duty military, veterans, and their families. She supports establishing veterans courts across the country, expanding access to healthcare and mental health services, fully funding and reforming the VA, and providing college, training, and workforce development programs so our veterans and their spouses can obtain good paying jobs.

Taking action, Jennifer introduced the bipartisan Yellow Ribbon for Overseas Education Act, which would remove barriers that prohibit student veterans from using the Department of Veterans Affairs Yellow Ribbon Program to attend overseas colleges and universities. She also cosponsored the Veterans Treatment Court Coordination Act to establish a program within the Department of Justice to provide grants, training, and technical assistance to help state, local, and tribal governments develop and maintain veterans treatment courts. 

Advocating on behalf of veterans and their families, Jennifer voted for the bipartisan Veterans’ Access to Child Care Act which would make the VA’s Child Care Pilot Program permanent and expand the program so veterans have a convenient, cost-free child care option during VA medical appointments. (Source: https://jenniferwexton.com/?issues=supporting-veterans)

What are your thoughts on the free enterprise system? Jennifer believes we need to create an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top. 

In the State Senate, she voted in favor of several measures that would raise the minimum wage, and introduced legislation that would ensure women doing the same job as men receive equal pay and employment benefits. She also introduced legislation that would have established Paid Medical Leave in Virginia.

As a member of the Financial Services committee, Jennifer has been at the forefront of Congressional economic policy, holding the Trump administration and Wall Street accountable to the American people. 

Workforce Development and Equality

Jennifer believes that making investments in our workforce is a key to growing our economy. As our state and our nation evolve from an industrial to a technology-based economy, our workers must be prepared for the jobs of the future, not those of the past. Jennifer supports increased investments in career and vocational training, and retraining for those who have been displaced from the workforce.

Too often, wages have not kept pace with costs and the increased use of low-bid or unrealistic contracts has resulted in an American workforce doing more work for less pay. Jennifer supports increasing wages and salaries, establishing paid family and medical leave programs nationwide, revitalizing America’s middle-class, protecting and expanding workers’ rights, making affordable housing more accessible to Americans, reining in Wall Street, and supporting America’s small businesses and entrepreneurs.

Equal pay for equal work is a critical aspect of Jennifer’s ideal economy. She was proud to vote in favor of the Paycheck Fairness Act to strengthen and close loopholes in the 1963 Equal Pay Act and help ensure women are being paid fairly for their work. 

Jennifer remains a strong advocate for the more than 35,000 federal employees in her district. She was a vocal fighter for the inclusion of paid parental leave for all federal employees in the Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act. She also voted for the measure and was proud to have her amendment to support military intelligence members transition into jobs in the public sector included and passed with the final legislation. 

Fueling Our Economy through the COVID-19 Crisis

As the nation faces new challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic, Jennifer has continued in fighting for these economic priorities. In voting to pass the bipartisan CARES Act, she helped ensure wage, salary, and benefit security for more than two million air industry workers, $339.8 billion for state and local funding, $3.5 billion for child care assistance for frontline workers and billions more to boost other key parts of our economy, such as small businesses and public schools. Jennifer also voted for the bipartisan HEROES Act, funding our public health response and providing economic assistance for American families. It aims to provide $12 billion in state funding for the people of Virginia, in addition to over $1 billion in urgently needed funding for localities in Virginia’s 10th Congressional District. During this time, Jennifer stands with labor and in the fight to ensure worker protection through personal protective equipment allocation, hazard pay, and proper leave allowances.

As an advocate for the 13,447 small businesses in her district, Jennifer spent many days calling small businesses owners during the COVID-19 crisis and sent hundreds of loan and grant support letters for those businesses to the Small Business Administration. After passage of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), she raised the alarm to the SBA regarding the uneven and problematic disbursement of PPP and Economic Injury Disaster Loans. When the Trump administration failed to publicly disclose information over the $500 million loan disbursements, Jennifer called for and helped secure more transparency and accountability from the Treasury and SBA. She understands her responsibility to small businesses and has remained in constant contact with lending institutions to ensure adequate assistance is provided. (Source: https://jenniferwexton.com/?issues=jobs-economy)

What are your thoughts on the protection of the unborn? Jennifer is a strong advocate for women’s rights. She believes women’s health care decisions should be made between a woman and her doctor, and has continuously fought to keep government out of those decisions. In the State Senate, Jennifer fought against the Republicans’ undue restrictions on abortion, championing legislation that would remove unconstitutional barriers to access like unnecessary waiting periods and TRAP laws targeting women’s health clinics.

In the State Senate, Jennifer created several new laws that have expanded women’s rights in Virginia. She wrote and passed a law that finally gave mothers the right to breastfeed in public. She created a landmark law that allows victims of revenge porn and surreptitious photos to sue their perpetrator for damages, and sponsored a bill to ensure women must not only receive equal pay but also equal benefits without being fired for asking about salaries. 

Jennifer supported Virginia’s efforts to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment in the U.S. Constitution while in the State Senate, and in Congress she urged her Virginia colleagues to hold a vote on the subject. She was also an advocate in Congress and voted to pass a House Resolution to eliminate the deadline for ratification. Jennfier was overjoyed to see Virginia’s General Assembly finally succeed in ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment in January 2020, and to serve as Speaker pro Tempore during floor debate on the ERA extension on the House floor. 

In Congress, Jennifer continues to be a true advocate for women. She supports legislation that expands women’s access to quality, affordable healthcare, family planning services, and contraception, establishes paid family and medical leave programs, ends violence against women, and promotes women’s involvement in STEM and political fields.

In 2019, she fought for women’s financial security and voted to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act in the House of Representatives, legislation that would strengthen and close loopholes in the 1963 Equal Pay Act, including providing remedies for women who are not being paid equal pay for equal work. Jennifer continues to advocate for eliminating the wage gap that hurts women and their families across our country and disproportionately impacts women of color.

Jennifer is proud to have the support of leading women’s advocacy groups such as EMILY’s List, NARAL, National Organization for Women, and Planned Parenthood. She was humbled in 2019 to also receive the annual Hope Award from Calvary Women’s Services for her decades of work to end domestic violence.

Professes values contrary to values and beliefs of Chasing Freedom – Virginia.  (Source: https://jenniferwexton.com/?issues=womens-rights)

What are your thoughts on the role the family plays in America? Professes values contrary to values and beliefs of Chasing Freedom – Virginia. (Source: https://wexton.house.gov/)

What are your thoughts on equal rights, equal justice and equal opportunity, as opposed to equal outcomes? Professes values contrary to values and beliefs of Chasing Freedom – Virginia. (Source: https://wexton.house.gov/)

What are your thoughts on the 2nd Amendment?

Jennifer is a strong advocate for gun violence prevention and has consistently fought for common sense legislation to keep our communities safe while also respecting the rights of responsible gun owners. 

In the State Senate, she championed and voted for bills that would establish universal background checks and close the gun show loophole, ban bump stocks, mandate the reporting of lost and stolen firearms, and keep firearms out of the hands of domestic abusers and those convicted of stalking. She also fought against legislation that would loosen restrictions on who can obtain concealed carry permits.

In Congress, Jennifer continues to support legislation that expands mandatory background checks on gun purchases, closes loopholes that allow criminals to purchase firearms, establishes a ban on sales of military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and allows the federal government to study gun violence as a public health issue. 

Jennifer believes that there must be swift action to address gun violence in the United States. She was a proud cosponsor of the Assault Weapons Ban of 2019 and in response to the tragic 2019 mass shooting in Virginia Beach, Jennifer introduced the Empowering Law Enforcement for Safer Firearm Transfers Act. The legislation aimed to enable law enforcement to block the sale or transfer of any weapon regulated under the National Firearms Act (NFA), including silencers, an accessory used in the Virginia Beach shooting.

Taking a historic first step in pursuit of a bold gun safety agenda, Jennifer voted to pass the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019. The legislation works to end the epidemic of gun violence that has terrorized our schools, our places of worship, and countless other public spaces.

To identify and report suspicious or illegal financial activity related to firearms, Jennifer introduced the Gun Violence Prevention Through Financial Intelligence Act, an Everytown for Gun Safety supported piece of legislation. The bill embodies her pursuit of using financial intelligence as an effective tool to combat gun violence in America.

She is proud to be endorsed by Everytown for Gun Safety and Giffords. (Source: https://jenniferwexton.com/?issues=guns)

 
Additional sources of information on this candidate:

United States House of Representatives (https://clerk.house.gov/)

Committee Assignments and Recent Votes (https://clerk.house.gov/members/W000825)

Congressional records Page (https://www.congress.gov/member/jennifer-wexton/W000825?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22jennifer+wexton%22%2C%22jennifer%22%2C%22wexton%22%5D%7D)

Official Biography. (https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/W000825)

Voting record (https://wexton.house.gov/voterecord/)

The Congressional Task Force on Digital Citizenship was created in order to better equip Americans with tools and resources to use technology and engage online responsibly in an increasingly digital world.
Countering Truth Decay – A Briefing on the Diminishing Role of Facts and Analysis in American Public Life (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjEm87JThe8)