Virginia Democrat Jennifer Wexton to retire from suburban district that zoomed left under Trump

Democratic Rep. Jennifer Wexton announced Monday that she would not seek a fourth term representing Virginia's 10th District due to worsening symptoms of a neurodegenerative disease.

Wexton, who revealed in April that she'd been diagnosed with Parkinson's, said in her new statement that her physicians have since "modified my diagnosis to Progressive Supra-nuclear Palsy - a kind of 'Parkinson's on steroids.'" The congresswoman said that she'd serve out the rest of her term but added, "There is no ‘getting better’ with PSP. I’ll continue treatment options to manage my symptoms, but they don’t work as well."

Wexton's departure will set off a race to replace her in a constituency based in the southwestern D.C. suburbs and exurbs, territory that swung sharply to the left during the Trump era. Joe Biden carried the current version of the 10th 58-40 in 2020, though Democrat Terry McAuliffe prevailed here by a smaller 51-49 spread in the following year's race for governor as he was losing to Republican Glenn Youngkin by that same margin statewide.