Jennifer Denise Carroll Foy (born September 25, 1981) is an American lawyer and politician. A member of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

, she is a public defender by occupation. Carroll Foy was elected to represent

Virginia's 2nd House of Delegates district Virginia's 2nd House of Delegates district is one of 100 seats in the Virginia House of Delegates, the lower house of the state's bicameral legislature. District 2 represents parts of Prince William and Stafford counties. The seat is currently hel ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

, which covers parts of

Prince William County Prince William County is located on the Potomac River in the U.S. state of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population sits at 482,204, making it Virginia's second-most populous county. Its county seat is the independent city of Manassas ...

and Stafford County in

Northern Virginia Northern Virginia, locally referred to as NOVA or NoVA, comprises several counties and independent cities in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. It is a widespread region radiating westward and southward from Washington, D.C. Wit ...

. In December 2020, she resigned from the House of Delegates, in order to focus on her campaign for

Governor of Virginia The governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia serves as the head of government of Virginia for a four-year term. The incumbent, Glenn Youngkin, was sworn in on January 15, 2022. Oath of office On inauguration day, the Governor-elect takes th ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

. She lost in the Democratic primary, placing second behind

Terry McAuliffe Terence Richard McAuliffe (born February 9, 1957) is an American businessman and politician who served as the 72nd governor of Virginia from 2014 to 2018. A member of the Democratic Party, he was co-chairman of President Bill Clinton's 1996 ...

. She is currently running for

State Senate A state legislature in the United States is the legislative body of any of the 50 U.S. states. The formal name varies from state to state. In 27 states, the legislature is simply called the ''Legislature'' or the ''State Legislature'', whil ...

Virginia's 33rd Senate district Virginia's 33rd Senate district is one of 40 districts in the Senate of Virginia. It has been represented by Democrat Jennifer Boysko since a 2019 special election to replace fellow Democrat Jennifer Wexton, who had been elected to Congress. Geo ...

Early life and education

Jennifer Carroll Foy was born and grew up in

Petersburg, Virginia Petersburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 33,458. The Bureau of Econ ...

. Raised by her grandmother, she graduated from Petersburg High School, where she participated in

Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps The Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC -- commonly pronounced "JAY-rotsee") is a Federal government of the United States, federal program sponsored by the United States Armed Forces in high schools and also in some middle schools acr ...

. She received her bachelor's degree from the

Virginia Military Institute la, Consilio et Animis (on seal) , mottoeng = "In peace a glorious asset, In war a tower of strength""By courage and wisdom" (on seal) , established = , type = Public senior military college , accreditation = SACS , endowment = $696.8 mill ...

(VMI) in 2003. Part of the third class of female cadets to attend the university, she received a full scholarship. Carroll Foy received her

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

from

Virginia State University Virginia State University (VSU or Virginia State) is a public historically Black land-grant university in Ettrick, Virginia. Founded on , Virginia State developed as the United States's first fully state-supported four-year institution of hi ...

and a Juris Doctor degree from the

Thomas Jefferson School of Law Thomas Jefferson School of Law (TJSL) is a private law school in San Diego, California. It offers a Juris Doctor and three Master of Laws programs, including one that is exclusively online,"How to enroll in America's first LLM Program". http: ...

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...

Career

After graduating from law school, Carroll Foy spent time teaching and worked in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

as a litigation associate. She moved back to

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

and opened a private practice that focused on criminal defense. In February 2017, Carroll Foy entered the race for the Second District seat in the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two parts of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-number ...

. In her 2017 campaign, Carroll Foy ran on expanding

Medicaid Medicaid in the United States is a federal and state program that helps with healthcare costs for some people with limited income and resources. Medicaid also offers benefits not normally covered by Medicare, including nursing home care and per ...

, raising the minimum wage, increasing teacher pay, and

criminal justice reform Criminal justice reform addresses structural issues in criminal justice systems such as racial profiling, police brutality, overcriminalization, mass incarceration, and recidivism. Criminal justice reform can take place at any point where the cr ...

. In November 2017, Carroll Foy beat Republican Mike Makee, and became delegate of Virginia's Second district. In the House of Delegates, Carroll Foy sat on the Courts of Justice, Finance, and Public Safety Committees. In 2020, Carroll Foy filed paperwork to seek the Democratic nomination in the

2021 Virginia gubernatorial election The 2021 Virginia gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 2021, to elect the next governor of Virginia. The election was concurrent with other elections for Virginia state offices. Incumbent Democratic Governor Ralph Northam was inelig ...

. On December 8, 2020, she announced plans to resign from the House of Delegates in order to focus full-time on her gubernatorial campaign. Her resignation came into effect on December 12, 2020. She, like fellow candidate

Jennifer McClellan Jennifer Leigh McClellan (born December 28, 1972) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the Virginia state senator from the 9th district since 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, she was previously elected to the Virginia House of ...

, would've been the first female Governor of Virginia, the second

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

governor after Douglas Wilder, and first African-American female governor of the United States if elected. However, former Governor Terry McAuliffe was renominated in the Democratic primary, instead.

Political positions

Healthcare

Carroll Foy voted to pass

Medicaid expansion In the context of American public healthcare policy, Medicaid coverage gap refers to uninsured people who reside in states which have opted out of Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), who are both ineligible for Medicaid unde ...

in the General Assembly in March 2018, expanding health insurance coverage for 400,000 Virginians.

Women's rights

Carroll Foy proposed and passed the Equal Rights Amendment, making Virginia the 38th state to ratify the constitutional amendment.

Criminal justice

A public defender, Carroll Foy has advocated for the reform of cash bail, criticizing what she called Virginia's "justice-for-profit system". Carroll Foy initially abstained from voting on a 2020 proposal to reduce prison sentences, bringing Virginia's "earned sentence credit" program in line with other states. She eventually voted in favor of a significantly more conservative version of the bills.

Redistricting

Carroll Foy supports third-party, commission-drawn legislative maps but opposed the amendment to the state constitution as proposed in 2020, saying she felt it was wrong to inscribe a “substandard” proposal in the constitution.

Labor

Carroll Foy has been an advocate for paid family and medical leave for all workers.

Infrastructure

Carroll Foy supports efforts to expand

broadband In telecommunications, broadband is wide bandwidth data transmission which transports multiple signals at a wide range of frequencies and Internet traffic types, that enables messages to be sent simultaneously, used in fast internet connections. ...

access, particularly to southwest Virginia.

Environment and climate change

Carroll Foy was a chief co-patron of the Virginia Clean Economy Act, which aims to shift Virginia's energy reliance to solely renewable sources over the next few decades

Personal life

She is married to Jeffrey Foy, whom she met at VMI. In July 2017, she gave birth to twin boys.Linda Feldmann
In Trump era, a sudden flood of women candidates
''Christian Science Monitor''. 10 Nov 2017.

Electoral history

References

External links

Campaign website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Carroll Foy, Jennifer 1981 births 21st-century American politicians African-American state legislators in Virginia African-American women in politics Candidates in the 2021 United States elections Living people Democratic Party members of the Virginia House of Delegates People from Petersburg, Virginia Thomas Jefferson School of Law people Virginia Military Institute alumni Virginia State University alumni Women state legislators in Virginia 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women Public defenders