Jennifer McClellan entered the U.S. Congress in 2023 after winning a special election to replace the late Congressman A. Donald McEachin. A lifelong Virginia native, McClellan was born in Petersburg to parents who served the community: her father worked as a professor at Virginia State University, and her mother worked as a counselor at VSU. McClellan attended Matoaca High School in Chesterfield County, where she was valedictorian. She earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Richmond, where she served as a Charter member of the Rho Rho Chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. She then obtained her Juris Doctorate from the University of Virginia School of Law. McClellan has served the greater Richmond area in elected office for nearly twenty years. She was first elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 2005 and served in that post until she was elected to the Virginia State Senate in 2017, where she succeeded A. Donald McEachin after his election to the U.S. House of Representatives.
In Congress, she sits on the House Armed Services Committee and the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee. A principled and progressive legislator, McClellan has always worked to ensure Virginians’ voices are heard in government. Throughout her eighteen sessions in the Virginia General Assembly, McClellan passed over 370 pieces of legislation, including landmark bills to protect and expand voting rights, combat climate change, preserve reproductive health care, and enhance workers’ protections and labor rights. McClellan lives in Richmond with her husband, David Mills, and their two children, Jackson and Samantha.