Jennifer Wexton

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Jennifer Lynn Wexton (née Tosini; born May 27, 1968) is an American lawyer and politician from the Commonwealth of Virginia who has represented the 33rd district in the State Senate since 2014. The district includes northeastern Loudoun County and northwestern Fairfax County. She is a member of the Democratic Party and the party's 2018 nominee to represent Virginia's 10th congressional district.

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Early life and education

Wexton is from Leesburg, Virginia. Her father and mother were senior economists at the United States Department of the Treasury and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, respectively.

Wexton received a BA from the University of Maryland, College Park. She then enrolled at the College of William & Mary School of Law, and received a Juris Doctor in 1995. At William & Mary, she was a member of Phi Delta Phi, a legal honor society.

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Career

Wexton is a partner in The Laurel Brigade Law Group. She served as a substitute judge in Loudoun County, Virginia, and beginning in 2001, as an Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney where she successfully prosecuted Clara Jane Schwartz for the murder of her (Schwartz's) father, Robert Schwartz. Wexton ran for Loudoun County Commonwealth's Attorney in the 2011 elections, losing to Jim Plowman, an incumbent.

After Mark Herring, who represented the 33rd district in the Virginia Senate, won the 2013 election to serve as the Attorney General of Virginia, Wexton declared her candidacy in the special election to fill the seat. In the Democratic primary, Wexton defeated Herndon Town Councilor Sheila Olem. Controversy brewed over campaign ads endorsed by Wexton, with allegations the ads compared Tea Party activists to rapists; Wexton's campaign denied the comparison. She faced Republican John Whitbeck and Republican-turned-Independent Joe T. May in the January 2014 special election, and won 53%-38%-10%. She assumed office on January 24, 2014 and was re-elected in the November 2015 general election.

In April 2017, Wexton announced that she would run in Virginia's 10th congressional district election, 2018. Her state senate district overlaps with the congressional district around Leesburg and Sterling. In June 2018, she won a six-way primary to become the Democratic nominee for the November 2018 general election, in which she faces Republican incumbent Barbara Comstock.