Why did she decide to run? “I got tired of cussing at the TV.”
Del.-elect Stacey Carroll (D–Stafford) is an accountant and a newcomer to politics. She retired from the West Virginia National Guard this fall after 20 years in the Medical Readiness Detachment, which conducted COVID response.
Carroll challenged Republican incumbent Paul Milde to represent Virginia’s 64th House District. Milde had served on the Stafford County Board of Supervisors before becoming a delegate in 2024. Carroll defeated Milde in his re-election bid with 53% of the vote in a district that covers a portion of Stafford County.
VPM News State Politics Reporter Jahd Khalil recently spoke with Carroll at her former campaign headquarters in Stafford, as part of a series of interviews conducted with the newest members of Virginia’s House of Delegates. (Links to interviews with the other delegates can be found at the bottom of this story.)
Carroll spoke about campaigning in Walmarts and mosques, the importance of funding public education — and how profanity led her to politics.
This interview has been lightly edited for style and clarity.
Stacey Carroll: Prior to running for office and winning, I had no desire to run for public office.
I’m a certified public accountant licensed here in Virginia and DC. I have been auditing the federal government’s financial statements, working in public practice, a member of the National Guard — actually retiring from the West Virginia Guard in a couple of days — and I’m a mom and foster mom.
I’ve been enjoying my life, taking care of my part of the county, giving back. And now I’m delegate-elect for the 64th District here in Stafford.
This is a seat that you flipped. Why do you think that you won?
I was able to go out and talk to every space here in the county. You name it, I was there, whether it be a church, a mosque, commuter lots, the Walmart, local grocery stores. I was there talking to them about my story: who I am, why I’m running, what I represent — and once I win, how I will stand and vote on issues as it relates to you.
I found myself talking to more people about what a delegate is and what they do, because most people didn’t even know who their current delegate was or what the job included. So, I spent more time educating.
I think it was that personal connection where people can see I’m not just another random politician, but they know me. I used to be a cheerleading coach here in Stafford County, or their child went to school with my child, or they know me from church or some other civic community organization that I’m a member of.
It made it a lot more personable than just some random person coming around selling a dream.
Why did you decide to run for this office?
Where do you want me to start? The first thing that comes to my mind is: I got tired of cussing at the TV. I say that as authentically as possible, because a lot of times when we look at TV and we see what politics is or how government is working, we often get frustrated. We feel that there’s someone else better that can do the job.
For me, with my financial background — specifically, government finances and policies — I understand it a little bit more.
I’ve been a member of the National Guard reserves and have had over five mobilizations. I’ve had a vast array of experiences working with foster care, or even having my son as a junior in high school.
All of this breadth of experiences provided me the opportunity to say, “Hey, there’s a way to be efficient and still provide the necessary services needed in order for our county to thrive.”
I felt like there needed to be a voice that could provide that.
Were there any particular moments that you remember getting upset at the TV that you’d like to share?
There were a few. It could have been something as simple as seeing the legislation coming out from the federal level — specifically the One Big Beautiful Bill. We’re just not quite sure how it will affect the localities or how it’s already affecting the localities.
I know we all have a feeling and a specific agenda, but dealing with facts and understanding how the changes that we make impact our day-to-day operations — such as how those changes affect the kids in foster care — becomes very important.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act is going to present a lot of hard budget choices for Virginia. Should we be changing the services that we’re providing to people because of that?
What balance do you think the new General Assembly should be taking?
We have different challenges ahead of us this current session, because we do have some of those tax cuts that are coming from the federal government — that specific aid that comes down to the commonwealth. Regular people don’t want to be squeezed out from the top end or the bottom.
We have to take that into consideration and make sure that we’re as conservative as possible when we’re asking the taxpayer to bear those burdens, and find innovative ways to be able to generate revenue or utilize the revenue that we currently have.
What do you think the upcoming General Assembly should be doing about education policy — the compensation of teachers, the way curricula is taught in schools, those kinds of issues?
A lot of times, we come in and enact legislation that sounds good, or the intent is good, but the overall implementation of that policy on the local level becomes maybe more tedious. I am interested in us, as a General Assembly, slowing down and understanding how some of the mandates that we require for our localities turn out for the end user prior to enacting more legislation.
I think we should, without question, fully fund the schools. I am a product of public education. My parents are products of public education. My children and foster children are products of public education. I stand behind public education.
So, as we see various changes coming in from the US Department of Education, we need to fully fund and support our schools to make sure that kids across the commonwealth are fully supported and have equal opportunity and access.
When you get sworn into office in January, do you have specific issues or plans that you’d like to address?
Some of the issues that I align with mostly have to do with the affordability crisis. We know that prices are going up.
I’ve spoken in detail with our current attorney general–elect on various policies that we could implement to make things affordable right here in Virginia. Making sure that some of the legislation that our previous attorney general did not enact on behalf of renters, that we move forward with that.
I’m excited about some of the other legislation that we’ll be able to implement, but I think once we get in the room, we’ll see how we can adequately address the issues in the big scope of things.
Read VPM News’ interviews with incoming delegates:
Del.-elect Jessica Anderson (HD-71)
Del.-elect Kacey Carnegie (HD-89)
Del.-elect Stacey Carroll (HD-64)
Del.-elect Mitchell Cornett (HD-46)
Del.-elect Lindsey Dougherty (HD-75)
Del.-elect Mark Downey (HD-69)
Del.-elect Elizabeth Guzman (HD-22)
Del.-elect John McAuliff (HD-30)
Del.-elect Leslie Mehta (HD-73)
Del.-elect May Nivar (HD-57)
Del.-elect Virgil Thornton Sr. (HD-86)
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