Democrats are gearing up for an uphill battle to stake claim of the newly-created Third Senate District seat. Jade Harris, the former vice mayor of Glasgow, is on the ballot as the Democratic nominee in the far-flung district, which stretches from Staunton “STAN-ton” and Waynesboro down I-81 to the Roanoke suburbs. Harris will face Botetourt County Republican Chris Head on the November ballot in the Third, which gave 68.1 percent of its votes to Glenn Youngkin in the 2021 gubernatorial election, according to analysis from the Virginia Public Access Project. Harris, who introduced herself in a campaign press release as a “working-class queer Black Gen-Z candidate,” says she doesn’t fit the “traditional profile” of a candidate in Western Virginia, and it is for that very reason she is pledging to make sure the Third isn’t left behind if she wins.
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