Former Virginia first lady Dorothy McAuliffe announced Wednesday she will run for Congress in a newly drawn district.
Ms. McAuliffe, a onetime State Department official and wife of former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe, is seeking the seat for the new 7th Congressional District, which was redrawn to stretch from Arlington to western Augusta County.
A majority of the district’s voters live just outside Washington and it is one of the four newly drawn districts that heavily lean toward the Democratic Party.
“We need a leader who has a record of delivering and can finally bring down costs for families, who will increase access to affordable health care, and who will never back down from holding Donald Trump and ICE accountable,” said Ms. McAuliffe, an attorney, in a statement.
Virginia voters are considering a constitutional amendment that would establish a new congressional map on April 21. Early voting began on March 6.
Virginia Democrats currently hold six of the state’s 11 U.S. House seats. The Democratic controlled General Assembly passed legislation last month, which Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed, to redraw the map. The new map will help Democrats win as many as 10 seats in the midterm elections, boosting the party’s chances of winning majority control of the House.
The legislation required a referendum for Virginia voters to approve the new map.
Republicans have mounted legal challenges against the new Virginia maps. They called the process to redraw the congressional borders “unconstitutional” and the ballot question “misleading.”
The state Supreme Court has said it would consider these legal challenges, but only after voters have finished casting their ballots on the referendum.
Ms. McAuliffe, 62, previously considered challenging former Republican Rep. Barbara Comstock in 2017 but decided against it. In 2022, she became the State Department’s special representative for global partnerships during President Biden’s administration.
Other Democrats running in the district include Virginia Delegate Dan Helmer and former federal prosecutor J.P. Cooney, who served as a deputy to special counsel Jack Smith and was fired by Mr. Trump.
Should voters not approve the new congressional map by April 21, or if it is thrown out by the state Supreme Court, Ms. McAuliffe and her fellow primary candidates would be able to make changes to their plans.
