Jennifer Carroll Foy

Jennifer Carroll Foy was born and grew up in Petersburg, Virginia.^[6] Raised by her grandmother,^[7] she graduated from Petersburg High School, where she participated in Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps.^[8] She received her bachelor's degree from the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) in 2003.^[6] Part of the third class of female cadets to attend the university, she received a full scholarship.^[9] Carroll Foy received her master's degree from Virginia State University and a Juris Doctor degree from the Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego.^[10]

After graduating from law school, Carroll Foy spent time teaching and worked in Los Angeles as a litigation associate. She moved back to Virginia and opened a private practice that focused on criminal defense.^[11]

In February 2017, Carroll Foy entered the race for the Second District seat in the Virginia House of Delegates.^[11] In her 2017 campaign, Carroll Foy ran on expanding Medicaid, raising the minimum wage, increasing teacher pay, and criminal justice reform.^[12] In November 2017, Carroll Foy beat Republican Mike Makee, and became delegate of Virginia's Second district.^[13]

In the House of Delegates, Carroll Foy sat on the Courts of Justice, Finance, and Public Safety Committees.^[14]

In 2020, Carroll Foy filed paperwork to seek the Democratic nomination in the 2021 Virginia gubernatorial election.^[15][7] On December 8, 2020, she announced plans to resign from the House of Delegates in order to focus full-time on her gubernatorial campaign.^[1] Her resignation came into effect on December 12, 2020.^[16] She, like fellow candidate Jennifer McClellan, would've been the first female governor of Virginia, the second African-American governor after Douglas Wilder, and first African-American female governor of the United States if elected.^[17] However, former governor Terry McAuliffe was renominated in the Democratic primary, instead.^[4]

In 2023, she was elected to the Virginia State Senate, defeating Republican Michael Van Meter with nearly 63% of the vote.

Healthcare

Carroll Foy voted to pass Medicaid expansion in the General Assembly in March 2018, expanding health insurance coverage for 400,000 Virginians.^[18]

Women's rights

Carroll Foy proposed and passed the Equal Rights Amendment, making Virginia the 38th state to ratify the constitutional amendment.^[19]

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".^[20]

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.^[21] She eventually voted in favor of a significantly more conservative version of the bills.^[21][22]

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.^[20]

Labor

Carroll Foy has been an advocate for paid family and medical leave for all workers.^[6]

Infrastructure

Carroll Foy supports efforts to expand broadband access, particularly to southwest Virginia.^[8]

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^[23][24]

She is married to Jeffrey Foy, whom she met at VMI.^[7] In July 2017, she gave birth to twin boys.^[25]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jennifer Carroll Foy.

• Campaign website
• Appearances on C-SPAN

• Profile at Vote Smart