In the News

Lawmakers gathered in Richmond to honor the life of Rep. Donald McEachin (D-Va.). McEachin died November 28th, just days after he was elected to his fourth term in Congress.

McEachin’s staff wrote in a statement that, “valiantly, for years now, we have watched him fight and triumph over the secondary effects of his colorectal cancer from 2013.” They add, “Virginia’s Fourth Congressional District lost a hero who always, always fought for them and put them first.”

McEachin was first elected to represent the 4th Congressional District of Virginia on November 8, 2016. He was committed to environmental issues, equality, gun reform, and access to affordable healthcare. Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.), who was friends with McEachin, remembers him as a mentor. She said he helped her ‘learn the ropes’ in Congress when she decided to run for election just two years later.

She said one of her favorite memories with McEachin was “...election night 2018, when it was clear that I had won but the pundits on television hadn’t yet given me the blue checkmark. And so, Donald was with me and my family and my campaign team, and he said, ‘you’ve won, you’ve won, you’ve won.’ And, I said, ‘but I don’t have the blue checkmark. I don’t have the blue checkmark.’ He said, ‘oh, Abigail, come on, you’ve won.’ And a couple of moments later, we got the blue checkmark on whatever channel was reporting. And, I said, ‘oh, my gosh, Donald, I won. And he looked at me. He said, I’ve been telling you that for 20 minutes.”

Before being elected to Capitol Hill, McEachin served as a legislator in both chambers of Virginia’s General Assembly. Rep. Ben Cline (R-Va.) served with McEachin both in the statehouse and on Capitol Hill. He remembers McEachin had the ability to “disagree without being disagreeable.” He added, “we had that ability to connect and talk about our issues even if we didn’t agree at the end of the day.”

Cline remembers one specific day that McEachin was speaking at the statehouse in Virginia.

“I remember, you know, we were in the House together for a session before he went over to the Senate. And at that time, back around 2004, 2006, he really was an imposing figure in Richmond on his side of the aisle. He’s a lot taller than I am, a lot bigger. And he really, when he rose to speak, could really command a lot of attention. So there were times during that one session when he put a lot of my side on our heels because of that ability to really command the room,” said Cline.

Read more HERE.