Greetings all. Excited to introduce you today to Shannon Taylor, prosecutor, fighter and a proven winner who is well-positioned to flip VA-01 blue.
Note this interview was conducted a few days ago so it will not reflect Trump’s dramatic escalation and increasingly unhinged behavior of the past few days.
In 2024, Trump won VA-01 by 5 points (Downballot); the Cook Partisan Vote Index has it R +3; and the Republican incumbent, Rob Wittman received 56.4% of the vote in 2024. So this is a Republican leaning district that is exactly the kind of district we can and must flip to take back the House this November.
Taylor is one of the twelve candidates in our newly expanded Winning The House campaign. You can support her today by giving to all twelve of our intrepid candidates with one click; by making a contribution directly to her campaign; and by volunteering on her campaign website.
Like our other Hopium-endorsed candidates Taylor is taking it to her opponent (from her campaign’s website, there is so much to work with!):
Career politician Rob Wittman has been in Washington for nearly 20 years—and he’s used his power to hurt our families.
He voted to raise taxes on the middle class.
He voted to raise private healthcare premium costs for our community while his net worth has grown by millions during his time in Congress.
He added $4 trillion to the national debt to cut taxes for the wealthy.
He voted to slash Medicaid and food assistance, risking hospital closures, care, and support for families.
He voted to take away reproductive health care and risk criminalizing women and their doctors.
20-year career politician Rob Wittman is harming, not helping our community, and we’ve had enough. Shannon has dedicated the past 14 years to taking down violent criminals, fraudsters, and drug dealers and she’s ready to prosecute the case against Wittman and anyone else trying to hurt working families.
If the Virginia redistricting initiative, Vote Yes, passes on April 21st Taylor will end up in a new district, but that one will be competitive too. So the money we are raising today will go into a battleground district, either this one, or a new one.
Join our Hopium phonebanks for Vote Yes the the next two Thursdays. You can learn more and sign up here. Join us!
Keep working hard all and I am excited to introduce Shannon Taylor to you today! - Simon
Bio - Shannon Taylor, US House candidate running in VA-01
Shannon Taylor is a lifelong Virginian and has dedicated her life to protecting our community. Shannon Taylor grew up in Virginia and has dedicated her life to protecting others. Shannon has tried thousands of cases and put violent criminals, drug traffickers, and abusers behind bars. She pioneered programs to support victims of human trafficking, created a task force to tackle the opioid epidemic, and took illegal guns off the streets.
In 2011, she became the first woman ever elected as Henrico County Commonwealth’s Attorney—and the first Democrat in 24 years to hold the seat. She has since been re-elected three times, proving she knows how to win tough races.
When Roe v. Wade was overturned, Shannon was one of the first prosecutors in America to say she would defend the right to abortion care. She has a record of shutting down fraudsters trying to take advantage of working families and locking up violent criminals who threaten our safety.
Shannon has spent her life protecting people — no matter their politics. Now Shannon is running for Congress in Virginia’s 1st District to take on career politician Rob Wittman, who has sold out working families to special interests and the ultra-wealthy. Shannon will fight to lower costs and will keep fighting for working families to get a fair shot.
