Jennifer Lynn Wexton (née Tosini; born May 27, 1968) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the United States representative for Virginia's 10th congressional district since 2019. The district is anchored in the outer portion of Northern Virginia, and includes all of Fauquier County, Loudoun County, and Rappahannock County, parts of Fairfax County and Prince William County, and the independent cities of Manassas and Manassas Park. A member of the Democratic Party, Wexton was a member of the Virginia Senate from 2014 to 2019, representing the 33rd district, which includes parts of Fairfax and Loudoun Counties.
In the 2018 election, Wexton defeated Republican incumbent Barbara Comstock with 56% of the vote. Some commentators have called her a moderate Democrat. She announced in September 2023 that she will not seek re-election in 2024, after being diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy.
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.
In 1992, Wexton graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Maryland, College Park. She then enrolled at the College of William & Mary's Law School and received a Juris Doctor in 1995. At William & Mary, she was a member of Phi Delta Phi, a legal honor society.
Early career
Wexton was a partner in the Laurel Brigade Law Group. She served as a substitute judge in Loudoun County, Virginia, and from 2001 to 2005 as an Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney.
Wexton successfully prosecuted Clara Jane Schwartz for the murder of her father, Robert Schwartz. She ran for Loudoun County Commonwealth's Attorney in 2011, narrowly losing to Republican incumbent Jim Plowman. She was elected to the Virginia Senate in 2014.
Virginia Senate
After Mark Herring, who represented the 33rd district in the Virginia Senate, won the 2013 election for attorney general of Virginia, Wexton declared her candidacy in the special election to fill the seat. The district includes northeastern Loudoun County and northwestern Fairfax County. In the Democratic primary, Wexton defeated Herndon Town Councilor Sheila Olem. In a campaign ad Wexton spoke of her experience defending victims of rape and assault and said she would "fight just as hard against tea party Republicans who would take away a woman's health care and her right to choose, even in cases of rape and incest." The Republican Party of Virginia criticized the ad, saying it 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 took office on January 24, 2014, and was reelected in the November 2015 general election. After being elected to the United States House of Representatives, Wexton resigned her Virginia Senate seat on January 3, 2019.
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
2018
In April 2017, Wexton announced that she would run in the Democratic primary for the 10th district. Her state senate district included much of the eastern portion of the congressional district, wrapping around Leesburg and Sterling. In June 2018 she won a six-way primary to become the Democratic nominee. She defeated Alison Friedman, Lindsey Davis Stover, Deep Sran, Dan Helmer, Paul Pelletier, and Julia Biggins in the Democratic primary. In the November general election she defeated Republican incumbent Barbara Comstock with 56% of the vote to Comstock's 44%. Wexton is only the fifth person to represent the district since its creation in 1953, and the second Democrat. The first was Joe Fisher, who served from 1975 to 1981. Her victory resulted in the Democrats holding every seat based in the Washington suburbs.
2020
Wexton was reelected to a second term in 2020, defeating the Republican nominee, former U.S. Marine Aliscia Andrews.
2022
Wexton was reelected to a third term in 2022, defeating Republican nominee and U.S. Navy veteran Hung Cao, 52.9% to 47.1%.
Tenure
Shortly after defeating Comstock, Wexton declared her support for D.C. statehood.
Wexton opposed Nancy Pelosi for speaker when running for Congress in 2018, but voted for Pelosi for speaker in 2019.
In May 2019, Wexton called for HUD Secretary Ben Carson's resignation after his House testimony that month.