There will be no primary election in Virginia’s 4th Congressional District this August.
Instead, voters will have to make a choice between Democratic incumbent US Rep. Jennifer McClellan and two independent candidates, Jason Brown II and Andre Kersey, in November’s general election. The Republican Party of Virginia has not announced a primary candidate for this race.
Stretching from the Richmond area down to the North Carolina border, the 4th Congressional District is home to a diverse group of voters grappling with a range of issues from rising everyday costs to healthcare and the direction of the nation’s immigration policy.
While all candidates acknowledge that families are facing challenges, they present fundamentally different ideas about what Congress should do next.
A focus on affordability
McClellan, the first Black woman to represent the state in Congress, is asking voters to send her back to the US House of Representatives based on her legislative record, saying she has remained focused on community amid the chaos.
“I have been focused on making sure that everyone lives in a healthy, safe community; they can get the health care they need without going bankrupt; that their rights are protected,”McClellan said. “That their children are safe; that they have the ability to not only get by, but get ahead and give their children a better opportunity than they did.”
To counter the passing of HR 1, aka the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” — which was championed by President Donald Trump and slashed federal healthcare and nutrition benefits — McClellan has introduced an “All-American Family Agenda” aimed at supporting family formation and strengthening family well-being.
McClellan’s agenda is focused on lowering the barriers that make family life unaffordable. To achieve this, she is proposing a slew of priorities, including lowering household utility costs through targeted federal funding, promoting competition in the nation’s food market, and expanding grants and tax credits to make childcare more affordable.
Brown, a self-described socialist who grew up in Dinwiddie County, takes a different approach. He told VPM News affordability isn’t about reducing costs, but creating a system that guarantees basic needs are within reach for everyone — and that it’s time for Generation Z to challenge the status quo.
“I’m coming from a generation that’s inheriting all of these problems. It’s time for us to resolve those,” said the 25-year-old Dinwiddie School Board member. “I’m stepping up to the plate, because the system is just becoming harder and harder to survive and to live under, and it’s time that we were on the winning side.”
Brown said if elected, he plans to write or support legislation that caps rent at less than 10% of income, guarantees free pre-K for all children and raises the federal minimum wage to $25 an hour.
He added that billions of dollars the federal government is spending on the ongoing war in Iran should instead be invested into local communities.
“We’re doing that instead of building homes here in Richmond, instead of making sure that schools in Dinwiddie County and in Surry and in Sussex are built up,” he said. “We’re doing that instead of making sure that people are able to afford somewhere to lay their head at night or being able to afford fresh groceries.”
Brown also supports implementing a billionaire tax — which requires the wealthiest people to pay taxes based on their large fortunes or increases in the value of their assets, not just income — to fund solutions for the issues impacting Americans the most.
Kersey, a teacher in the Richmond Public Schools system who did not respond to multiple interview requests from VPM News, did not list lowering costs or affordability as direct issues on his website. His campaign focuses on supporting working communities central to building economic stability.
Healthcare
The broader debate over the federal government’s role carries into healthcare, where the candidates disagree over whether the focus should be on expanding guarantees or reducing costs within the current system.
Brown said he is willing to introduce or support legislation that guarantees free healthcare for all. This includes no more copays, no more “predatory” insurance rates, and no-cost insulin for diabetes treatment.
McClellan has focused her healthcare agenda in Congress on lowering prescription drug costs, expanding access to care and protecting reproductive health services.
In her “All-American Family Agenda,” McClellan focuses on improving maternal health nationwide, including making childbirth free and ensuring fertility treatment insurance coverage is available to all. She also supports protecting Medicare and Medicaid, and establishing federal standards for hospital financial assistance and debt collection.
Kersey’s campaign website does not outline a broader healthcare plan, but says veterans “deserve timely access to healthcare they’ve earned.” Kersey serves in the Virginia Army National Guard.
Immigration
McClellan argues that the Trump administration’s approach to immigration enforcement has created a public safety crisis and eroded trust between immigration communities and law enforcement.
“We need to make sure we are enforcing our immigration laws in a way that creates a path to citizenship for those who, who are undocumented through no fault of their own, that secures our borders in a way that is humane,” McClellan said.
She voted against additional funding for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, saying the agency needs greater accountability, transparency and limits on its enforcement practices.
Brown takes a more maximalist position, calling for the agency to be dismantled altogether.
“There’s a difference between saying ICE agents need to take off their mask and put on a body camera versus what I’m saying, which is we need to abolish it completely — like, it is just incompatible with the life that we all deserve,” Brown said.
As part of his immigration agenda, Brown is proposing immediate US citizenship for undocumented families — and creating a legal pathway for criminal charges against ICE agents who have “terrorized entire communities.”
Immigration enforcement is not directly listed on Kersey’s campaign website. However, he outlines that public safety and justice must work together to build strong communities.
Early in-person voting for the November general election starts on Sept. 18.
More VPM News coverage of Virginia’s 2026 congressional primary elections
- Seven Democrats jockey for position in 1st Congressional District primary
- Harding, Ollivant, Smithers vie for GOP nomination in 7th Congressional District
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