Wednesday, Sept. 17, Jessica Anderson, the Democratic Party candidate running for the 71st District in the Virginia House of Delegates, held a campaign rally in Ewell Hall.
The 71st District includes Williamsburg, the College of William and Mary and stretches north into parts of New Kent. Anderson is running against the Republican incumbent, Delegate Amanda Batten.
The Anderson Campaign, the College’s Young Democrats, Out in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics at the College, Vox: Planned Parenthood Generation Action and Liberal Students League all collaborated to host the event.
The event began with remarks from Young Democrats President Adrian Ryan ’27.
Ryan offered his organization’s endorsement of Anderson. He highlighted Anderson’s support for education, small businesses and access to healthcare as key reasons why the Young Democrats support her.
Representatives from the other student organizations hosting the event also offered their endorsements of Anderson.
After they spoke, Anderson took the stage to discuss her connection to the 71st District.
“I started my family here,” she said. “I’ve been working here since I was 14 years old. I am very invested and rooted in this community in so many different ways.”
Anderson then critiqued her opponent, Batten.
“We have really horrific leadership right now,” she said.
Anderson further criticized Batten, stating that before the 71st district was redrawn to be more competitive, Batten was not an active figure in the community.
“My opponent has been very fortunate before the districts were redrawn to just float on her Republican name only,” Anderson said. “[Batten] didn’t have to be a constant in the community. [She] didn’t have to show up, and people were noticing that.”
Anderson further explained how her experiences with education, the COVID-19 pandemic, social media and her involvement with various communities around the district inspired her to get into local politics.
Anderson recounted her first time running in the 71st district during the 2023 Virginia state elections, with what she believed to be a fairly grassroots campaign.
“After all the counts were counted, we lost by 667 votes,” she said. “Every vote counts.”
Anderson finished her remarks by expressing support for reproductive rights, specifically her desire to introduce a referendum that would enshrine reproductive access in the Virginia State Constitution. She then opened the floor to questions from the audience.
The audience asked questions about the redistricting fight between Texas and California, access to public transit in the 71st district, homelessness in Williamsburg, the state of the Democratic party, gun control, reproductive access, parking minimums and zoning requirements.
An audience member also asked Anderson about the recent Charlie Kirk assassination.
Anderson responded by condemning Kirk’s murder, but she disagreed with recent instances of people getting fired over expressing their opinions about the shooting.
“While I don’t agree with people celebrating it, I also recognize that people choosing how to grieve or not to grieve is a First Amendment right,” she said. “People should not be threatened to be rounded up or arrested or lose their jobs because they made a decision to say something on the internet.”
Cameron Schwartz ’28 came to watch the rally. He took interest in the event’s theatrics and explained his skeptical perspective.
“I like the whole rahrah of it, but I also found it to be a little bit disingenuous sometimes,” he said.
Cameron elaborated by explaining how it seemed contradictory to him for a candidate, like Anderson, to attack their opponent while simultaneously calling for open political debate and discussion.
“[Anderson] came out strong, fearmongering against the other opponent to make sure that she has your vote, then at the end of the speech [she explained how] we need to have open discussion, open debate, things of that nature,” he said. “It seems a little contradictory to me.”
Sam Newell ’28 also showed up to the event to support Anderson. He explained why he believes this House of Delegates race is important in the broader election landscape.
“Virginia is a huge bellwether for the 2026 midterms and for the rest of the nation,” he said.
Newell expressed support for Anderson because he believes that Democratic control of the Virginia House of Delegates would be an effective way to work against Republican policies on the federal level.
“When Republicans control all three branches of the federal government, it is really up to the states to be the last line of defense to protect your freedoms,” he said.
After the event, Ryan explained further why he thinks students should care about this election.
He referenced recent federal cuts to universities and explained that he believed it was important to elect someone like Anderson to protect this funding from possible additional cuts on the state level.
“The [Virginia] General Assembly provides a lot of funds to the College, and it is more important than ever that we have a pro-education majority in the House of Delegates,” Ryan said.
He thinks that Anderson would be the best candidate to protect this funding for education.
“Democrats are currently the party that supports funding for education, and because of that, it’s important that we elect [Anderson] to the House,” Ryan said.
Newell also felt this election was important to students and encouraged people to get involved.
“Nobody has ever made a decision by not being in the room,” he said. “You have to be in the room, you have to show up and you have to make your voice heard.”
