Jade Harris, 25, has a lot she wants Virginians to know about her, including that she is running for District 3 in this year’s Senate race.
“I always wanted to be politically involved,” Harris, who lives in Glasgow, said, “especially at the local level. I’ve always been a fan of local politics.”
She said that local politics is where you make the most impact on lives.
Harris shares her birthday, November 20, with President Joe Biden.
She was born at UVA but grew up in Charleston, W.V. for 10 years before she and her family returned to Glasgow. She graduated from Rockbridge County High School and earned a degree in political science from Mary Baldwin University.
Now a manager at The Split Banana in downtown Staunton and a substitute teacher for Rockbridge County Schools, during college she was appointed to serve on Glasgow Town Council from March 2021 to December 2022.
She then ran for House of Delegates against Ellen Campbell, who was elected to the seat left by her late husband, Ronnie Campbell. Harris took the loss easy because she outperformed Biden at the polls by 20 points.
And now has her eyes set on Virginia’s District 3 Senate seat.
“There’s a whole lot I would like voters to know about me,” Harris said.
She has been a public servant since she was 13 years old helping in local community government where she helped Glasgow with communications. At MBU, she championed for gender-neutral bathrooms and volunteered with the Shenandoah Valley LGBTQ Center in Staunton.
With March for Our Lives, she participated in a nonpolitical forum which brought out solutions in the community for reducing gun violence.
“And we actually came up with a lot of really good solutions that everybody left feeling happy with, it wasn’t full of animosity, it was a really good time,” Harris said.
Harris is concerned about several policies which with Virginians struggle every day, especially improving infrastructure like Interstate-81, updating sewage and water treatment in communities, and improving water supply. The Valley is receiving funding for I-81 improvements, but local politicians must ensure that funding continues through the next 10 years to finish improvements.
“We need to have solutions for [low water supply] so that we are prepared for the future, because climate change is real. I want everyone to know that. And we need to be prepared rather than reactive to these situations,” she said.
If elected, she would also champion for rural broadband internet, which enables the next generation of Virginia’s workers to prepare for the workforce.
“If you don’t have access to a stable internet connection, you are locked out of so many opportunities,” Harris said. Prospective employers expect employees to already know how to use computers and the internet. Some job interviews after COVID-19 are by Zoom, which requires a stable, high-speed internet connection.
Virginia’s public schools must have more funding, not less. A recent JLARC study revealed that public schools are underfunded in the Commonwealth.
“It’s important that our future legislators considering public office know what’s going on in our schools and want to help them, not hinder them, or do anything that would be inherently damaging toward them,” Harris said.
As a manager at a small business, she is concerned about labor rights and labor unions.
“[Small businesses] understand the whole worker. They see the worker as a whole,” Harris said, but large companies do not. “As someone who has a family, as someone who has aspirations, dreams.”
Virginia’s workers also need good healthcare to take care of themselves and their families.
She would also work to rid the Commonwealth of Right-to-Work.
“[Right-to-Work] has been nothing but a disaster for [Virginians],” she said.
A lesbian, Harris opposes forced outing of students in Virginia’s public schools.
“I don’t want to see our trans kids abused any longer. I don’t want that to be Virginia’s legacy saying ‘hey, we basically ignored you all for years and years and now we’re going to start attacking you’,” Harris said.
She would fight for legislation to support and protect trans students. She said that some legislation was coming to support trans youth before Gov. Glenn Youngkin was elected in 2022.
For many trans kids, school is an environment where “they can explore themselves safely” and they may not be ready yet to come out to friends and family. Peer-to-peer conversations should remain private and students not have to worry about school staff overhearing gender conversations.
“We do have to remember that kids are people too. They’re not property.”
Early voting in Virginia has begun and anyone who has not yet voted is welcome to vote on Tuesday, November 7.
“Voting is a use it or lose it,” Harris said of Election Day.
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Rebecca Barnabi
