Kathy Tran

Elections

Tran decided to run for the House in 2017 after the election of Donald Trump.^[4][5] She ran in the 42nd district, which was then an open seat after Republican Delegate Dave Albo announced his retirement following his 24 year tenure as a Delegate.^[6] She faced retired social worker Tilly Blanding in the June 2017 Democratic primary and won with 54 percent of the vote.^[7]

Tran faced Republican Lolita Mancheno-Smoak, an engineer and Ecuadorian immigrant, in the general election.^[8] Republicans accused Democrats of racist smears after the Democratic Party of Virginia sent a mailer to voters depicting Mancheno-Smoak's face next to images of a werewolf and a hockey mask reminiscent of a horror movie with the headline, "This Halloween season, protect your family from the scariest threats."^[9] Tran denied that the mailer was racist, saying, "The mailer highlights the frankly scary policies that my opponent supports that would threaten funding for schools, threaten access to affordable health care, and threaten funding for Planned Parenthood. This is what is at stake in our election."^[9] Tran defeated Mancheno-Smoak in the general election, receiving 61% of the vote.^[10]

In 2025, Tran defeated Republican candidate Ed McGovern, whom she previously ran against in 2023, in her re-election campaign and received 72.22% of the vote.^[11]

Tenure

Tran and Kelly Convirs-Fowler were the first Asian-American women to be elected to Virginia's House of Delegates in November 2017.^[12] She is the first Vietnamese American elected to state government in the Commonwealth.^[13]

In November 2023, Tran was selected as the Democratic Caucus Chair in the Virginia House of Delegates.^[14]

Abortion

On the first day of the 2019 legislative session, Tran introduced the Repeal Act, a bill that would have reduced the number of physicians required to approve a third-term abortion in Virginia (from three to one), and lower the threshold for approval to "any medical reason" from the previous requirement of the pregnant woman being “substantially and irredeemably” harmed by continuing the pregnancy.^[15][16][17] The bill would have also allowed second-trimester abortions to be performed in clinics instead of hospitals and would remove the requirement that an ultrasound be performed before an abortion.^[15][18][19] The bill drew accusations from Republicans of attempting to legalize infanticide, with Tran receiving death threats against herself and her family.^[16][3] The bill failed to pass the state legislature.^[16][20]

Immigration

In 2020, Tran introduced a bill to allow immigrants to obtain a driver's license regardless of legal status.^[21]

Labor

In 2021, Tran co-sponsored a bill to add military service members and their families as a protected class, banning discrimination in housing and employment based on military status.^[22]

In 2024,^[23] 2025,^[24] and 2026, Tran introduced a bill to repeal the ban on public sector and home health workers from collective bargaining.^[25][26]