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