Henrico County Attorney Shannon Taylor has launched her campaign against U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman. The Democrat detailed her history as a tough-on-crime prosecutor while painting her GOP opponent as a donor’s puppet and a threat to women’s rights.
“Congressman Wittmann seems to think that he can rip away the health care of 300,000 Virginians to give a massive tax cut to his billionaire donors and lie straight to our face about it, all while we still struggle with high taxes and out-of-control costs,” Taylor said in a launch video.
“My life’s work has been protecting families from fraudsters and scammers who rip us off, locking up gang members and violent criminals, taking on White supremacists, the Ku Klux Klan, and the NRA. And I protected women when we lost our abortion rights. Now, I’m ready to prosecute the case against Rob Wittmann because honesty, integrity and the rule of law should mean something.”
Taylor’s candidacy has been rumored for weeks. But she enters a crowded field of Democrats challenging Wittman, several of whom have amassed a significant amount of funding.
Lisa Vedernikova Khanna has already raised nearly $145,000 for the race, and as of the end of June had more than $119,000 still available. Amanda Pohl raised more than $35,000 and closed the last period with almost $1,200 still in the bank. A Primary, if necessary, will determine a Democratic nominee in June.
Andrew Lucchetti had reported almost $58,000 in fundraising but closed out his federal accounts in August.
Wittman, who first won election to Congress in 2006, continues to raise money with no intraparty opposition. He has reported nearly $1.4 million in new fundraising this year, and the incumbent closed June with almost $2.4 million
But bolstered by hopes voters will punish Republicans in the Midterms, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee already listed Virginia’s 1st Congressional District among the GOP-held Districts in Play in the 2026 election cycle.
Wittman in November won re-election with more than 56% of the vote over Democrat Leslie Mehta, who pulled less than 44%. Of note, Henrico County was one of two counties in the district, out of 18, where Mehta outperformed Wittman last year. But the county was also home to more than 31% of all voters who cast a ballot in the race.
Additionally, nearly 52% of voters in the district favored Donald Trump for President in November, even as Democrat Kamala Harris won the state’s electoral votes with 52% of the vote statewide, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.
But that shows a narrower margin than in 2016, when Trump won almost 54% of the vote in the district over Democrat Hillary Clinton’s 40%.
