Taylor will tackle corruption to make life more affordable for working families
Henrico, VA – Today, Defend The Vote, a group that works to elect pro-democracy candidates, endorsed Shannon Taylor in her race against 20 year incumbent Rob Wittman.
“Virginia families are fed up with rising costs and a broken government that ignores them. Shannon Taylor knows that building an economy that lowers prices and creates real opportunity requires bold changes to crack down on corruption and hold politicians accountable,” Defend The Vote Executive Director Brian Lemek said. “We’re excited to endorse Shannon and look forward to helping her win next year.”
“As a prosecutor, I’ve held people accountable for abusing their power — and Rob Wittman is no exception. After 20 years in Congress, he’s become the ultimate Washington insider, and families in our district are paying the price,” said Taylor. “In Congress, I’ll fight corruption head-on so we can lower costs and restore trust for hardworking Virginia families.”
This latest endorsement comes after Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger won the boundaries of Virginia’s 1st Congressional District earlier this month, underscoring a clear path to victory for Taylor to unseat Rep. Wittman.
After nearly two decades in Washington, Rob Wittman has become the exact kind of career politician voters are sick and tired of — a symbol of everything that’s broken and corrupt in Congress. Wittman has grown his own net worth by nearly $5 million even as costs continue to rise for Virginia families. Business Insider reported that Wittman bought defense stocks like Lockheed Martin and Honeywell while sitting on the House Armed Services Committee, and Politico revealed he purchased shares in the pharmaceutical giant AbbVie at the beginning of the pandemic as the company worked on COVID-related treatments. These trades raise serious ethical questions for Virginians who elected Rob Wittman to serve them and not himself. And it doesn’t stop there: just hours before the government shutdown, Wittman was hosting a high-dollar fundraiser at the Capitol Grille instead of working to prevent families’ health care costs from skyrocketing.
By contrast, Taylor has dedicated her life to protecting Virginians, from locking up dangerous criminals to holding fraudsters accountable. She is committed to cracking down on the corruption that has crippled Washington’s ability to lower costs, protect access to health care, and ensure our government works for the people — not for corporate lobbyists and billionaire donors. She has pledged to support a ban on Congressional stock trading.
This endorsement follows endorsements from EMILY’s List, Elect Democratic Women, Senator Tim Kaine, Congressmen Don Beyer, Eugene Vindman, and Suhas Subramanyam, as well as former Governors Ralph Northam and Terry McAuliffe and several members of the Virginia General Assembly Delegation.
ABOUT SHANNON:
Shannon Taylor is a battle-tested prosecutor with 25 years of experience and a 90% homicide prosecution rate, taking on the toughest threats to Virginia families and delivering justice. A native of Charlottesville and graduate of the University of Virginia and the University of Richmond Law School, she began her career as a prosecutor in Richmond before serving as a Special Assistant in the U.S. Attorney’s office. In 2011, she flipped the Henrico Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office from Republican to Democrat, becoming the first woman elected to the role. She has since been re-elected three times, proving she knows how to win tough races.
As Commonwealth’s Attorney, Taylor has pioneered programs to support victims of human trafficking, created a task force to tackle the opioid epidemic, and led prosecutors statewide in pledging not to criminalize women or doctors for abortion care. She has worked alongside law enforcement to keep families safe, fought fraud that harms working people, and partnered with gun safety advocates to take illegal guns off the streets.
Shannon Taylor has built her career on protecting Virginians and delivering justice for families regardless of their politics.
For more on Shannon Taylor’s campaign, visit ShannonTaylorVA.com.
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