Swecker easily wins re-election as DPVA chair

Incumbent Democratic Party of Virginia chairwoman Susan Swecker was overwhelmingly re-elected to the leadership job Saturday at a virtual party convention.

Swecker, a public-affairs consultant who has served as DPVA chair since 2015, won nearly 80 percent of the votes cast by members of the party’s Central Committee.

“I am incredibly grateful to Virginia Democrats for putting their faith in me to continue to lead the Party as we move forward,” Swecker said in a statement shortly after the results were announced. “We have made so much progress as a party and Commonwealth over the last seven years, and now is the time to protect and build upon that progress.”

Swecker faced competition from two other party activists, Josh Stanfield and Jim McBride, both of whom argued the party hadn’t done enough to review why it lost all three statewide races last year along with its House of Delegates majority. But Swecker said she had the experience to keep the party strong as it pushes back against new Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, and she racked up endorsements from almost every prominent Virginia Democrat.