An emergency room nurse with a sprawling grassroots base and a former Charlottesville School board member who formed a PAC to bring more Democratic women into politics are now the only two candidates running for the 55th District in the House of Delegates after Republican Rob Bell announced he would not seek re-election.

“I was pretty burned out and trying to figure out what I could do to make a difference,” says Kellen Squire. An ER nurse, he says years working through the pandemic further exposed the flaws in the U.S. healthcare system. 

“This race came open, and I thought it’s time to give this another go and go to Richmond to fix some of the things that we see, not just every day in the ER, but particularly over the last two or three years.” 

Squire, whose previous campaign experience includes a run for the House of Delegates in 2017 and for Lieutenant Governor in 2019, trails his primary opponent, Amy Laufer, in overall fundraising according to VPAP.org but leads in small money donors with 1120 people giving him under $100. His website describes him as the “progressive choice,” something he attributes to his “firebrand populism.”

“Maybe it comes from being in the emergency department having less of a tolerance for some of the BS that some people think are just part and parcel for the political process. In the emergency department, we obviously don’t have time for that sort of thing,” he says.

But Laufer, who ran for Charlottesville City Council in 2017 and for Virginia State Senate in 2019, says she also has strong progressive credentials.

“I feel that government is a source of support to folks,” she says. “It’s not the only support, but I believe that it’s a major foundation of our society. So I feel pretty compelled to run.”

Laufer’s second child was born with some health issues which prompted her to get on the Commission for Children and Families. 

‘I felt really fortunate to be a voice for families with children with needs,” she says, calling her current run for the House “an extension of that advocacy.”

Laufer says the PAC she founded eight years ago to support Democratic women entering politics is further evidence of her progressive approach to politics, as were her actions when she served on the the Charlottesville School Board.

“I’ve supported parents and families with children with disabilities on the school board. We enacted the SMART program with Moms Demand Action. We also implemented the Equality Virginia non-discrimination policy,” she says, noting that Charlottesville was one of only two communities in the state to do so.

You can hear full interviews with Laufer and Squire here.