Jenn’s Perspective

Jenn McClellan comes from a long line of educators, small business owners, domestic workers, and laborers. Jenn’s family experienced the bold economic recovery plans of Reconstruction and the New Deal but through the lens of the economic inequity of Jim Crow. As other workers gained economic benefits, many of Jenn’s relatives were denied basic protections – leaving them struggling to earn enough money to care for their family.

The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified existing inequities and vulnerabilities in our economy. Virginia’s economy faces its greatest crisis in at least a generation, and every community across the Commonwealth has been hurt. Jenn is running for Governor to build a strong, inclusive, and resilient economy that gives everyone an opportunity for prosperity while meeting the changing demands of technology and the marketplace. She will build an economy that makes Virginia #1 for both workers and businesses.

Jenn’s Record

Jenn has been a legislative leader for a stronger, more inclusive economy and:

• Led the passage of the Virginia Clean Economy Act to make Virginia a national leader in the clean energy sector –  creating 13,000 clean energy jobs per year in the Commonwealth, and prioritizing low-income and historically economically-disadvantaged communities in the development of energy and job training programs and the placement of renewable facilities
• Expanded worker protections through the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, the Pregnant Worker Fairness Act, the Virginia Values Act
• Cosponsored a bill to expand collective bargaining to public employees, bills to provide paid sick leave, and paid family and medical leave to Virginia workers
• Passed laws to stimulate new industries, including creating benefit corporations to make Virginia a hub of social entrepreneurship, removing red tape for local craft breweries – fostering job creation, and enabling the technology sector to work with transportation network companies to allow passengers to make reservations in advance and request specific designated drivers
• Repeatedly supported and patroned laws to raise the minimum wage to $15, and eliminate minimum wage exemptions for workers over 65, individuals with disabilities, various jobs historically held by African-Americans, and domestic workers

Jenn’s Vision

As Governor, Jenn will:

• Make Virginia number #1 in the country for workers and businesses 
• Build back a post-COVID economy that centers around workers and small business owners who have suffered the brunt of economic disparities exacerbated by the pandemic
• Invest in Virginia’s workforce and strengthen workplace protections by establishing a paid family and medical leave program, and paid sick leave
• Extend and modernize the unemployment system by allowing phone and email communication to become standard, require more timely responses from employers contesting workers’ claims, more leeway to forgive overpayments, and ensure 500,000 Virginia gig workers can opt into unemployment insurance
• Expedite the transition to a $15 minimum wage, remove barriers to collective bargaining, including for public employees, and require those who benefit from a collective bargaining agreement or union representation in a grievance process to contribute to the cost for the service
• Combat wage theft and worker misclassification
• Create a COVID Long-Term Effects Small Business Loan, enabling Virginia small business owners to apply for a low-interest 30-year loan that allows for reinvestment in their business without red tape and with the potential for loan forgiveness
• Increase funding to help small businesses with access to capital through increased funding partnerships with entities like the Virginia Community Capital Bank. She will increase funding to the Virginia Community Development Financial Institutions Fund by $2.5 million per year for a period of five years to provide greater support and resources for SWaM and micro businesses
• Direct her administration to comprehensively study what laws and tax structures need to be updated to help make Small, Women, and Minority (SWaM) owned businesses, especially brick and mortar, more competitive
• Make Virginia a national hub for clean energy job growth, building on the success of the Virginia Clean Economy Act with further action to expand deployment of solar and wind technology and invest in clean vehicles while creating green jobs and democratizing clean energy access by eliminating solar and wind tariffs
• Collaborate with the Biden-Harris Administration to implement their “Build Back Better” agenda and implement policies to make Virginia the #1 state for both business and workers

Read Jenn’s comprehensive Economic Recovery Plan here.