State Senator Amanda Chase (R-Chesterfield) says that she is ending her congressional campaign after she was drawn into a district with Republican Congressman Rob Wittman. She was originally running against two-term Democratic Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger (Henrico) in the seventh, but that district was moved to Northern Virginia anchored by Prince William County.
“I will not challenge a Republican representative who is doing a good job representing the people of their district,” Chase said in a statement Monday night. “I no longer live in the 7th Congressional District, which was represented by Democrat Abigail Spanberger.”
Chase has been serving in the state Senate since she was first elected in 2015 to Represent Amelia, Chesterfield, and Colonial Heights. She said Monday that she plans to run for reelection again in 2023 and is considering her options for another potential statewide run in 2025. She ran for governor in 2021 and came in third during the nomination convention.
Chase’s Senate district was drawn favorably for her but now also includes Democratic state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi. Hashmi has made no official statement as to what her plans are for 2023.
Chase was not the only Republican running against Spanberger that was drawn out of the district. Del. John McGuire (R-Goochland) has yet to make an announcement about what he intends to do after being drawn into a district with Republican Congressman Bob Good in the fifth.
Tina Ramirez (Chesterfield) has also yet to make an announcement as to what her intentions are after being drawn into the same district as Wittman.
State Sen. Bryce Reeves (R-Spotsylvania) was also running against Spanberger prior to the redraw and is the only Republican continuing to run against her in the new seventh.
So far, Spanberger is the only Democrat in the race. She announced her attention to run in the new seventh at the end of December. “With the new congressional boundaries now finalized, I also look forward to earning the support of new constituents as I campaign for re-election across Virginia’s Seventh District,” Spanberger wrote. “I will forever be grateful to the Virginians who elected me in 2018 and 2020, as well as to everyone I have had the honor of meeting and serving across Virginia’s Seventh District.”
Wittman also announced his intention for reelection to the first congressional district that now includes parts of Henrico and Chesterfield. “I am running for re-election to the First Congressional District because after a year of a complete Democrat takeover of Washington, it is time we get to work and find real solutions for the American people, and I stand ready and able to do so,” he wrote in a statement Wednesday.
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