Meet Eileen
Meet Eileen
Eileen Filler-Corn
56th Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates
Eileen Filler-Corn didn’t start out thinking she’d run for office. But a life-changing moment started her public service journey. In 1996, Eileen was carjacked and threatened with a gun while with her children in the parking lot of the Springfield Mall. While Eileen moved quickly to pull her 6-month-old and 2-year-old to safety, her life was changed forever. In that moment, she became a mom-on-a-mission. She started by advocating for better security at the mall, and eventually ran for office on a gun safety platform. Fast forward to today, Eileen was the first woman Speaker of the House of Delegates in Virginia’s 400-year history — leading the charge to pass some of the most transformative gun violence prevention legislation in the country.
When Eileen was first elected to the House of Delegates, she won a seat that the Republican governor had swept by 10 points. She was determined to do more than just talk, she wanted to get things done. Despite Republican control in Richmond, she worked across the aisle to pass the first pro-reproductive health bill in more than a decade, expanding access to birth control for Virginia women. As Speaker, Eileen spearheaded the roll back of extreme right-wing abortion restrictions that had shut down clinics and endangered women’s lives, bringing a new era of reproductive freedom to Virginia.
Eileen has always had the courage to take decisive action, even in the face of grave threats — from being carjacked with her kids to domestic terrorists plotting against her life. While Eileen was leading the fight on new critical gun safety legislation, two white nationalists — who are now in prison today — plotted to assassinate her. But Eileen was undeterred, passing new laws expanding background checks, implementing mandatory reporting for lost or stolen firearms, and keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people, including domestic abusers.
While Trump was stirring division and chaos in Washington, Eileen took decisive action again. After three Republican members of the House of Delegates spearheaded an effort to deny the results of the 2020 election, Eileen swiftly kicked them off their committees. Eileen also ordered the removal of Confederate busts and a statue of Robert E. Lee from the state capitol building because she knows these monuments to treason have no place in our Commonwealth. As Speaker, she protected our democracy and expanded voting rights by passing same-day voter registration and greater early voting access.
Now, Eileen is running for Congress because she believes we need to bring that fearlessness to Washington to stand up to Trump and MAGA extremists and build on the powerful work she’s done in Virginia, including:
- Protecting reproductive freedom: She’ll codify Roe to protect reproductive rights and stand strong against any new national abortion ban.
- Passing gun safety laws: She’ll make our communities safer, including passing a federal assault weapons ban.
- Ensuring voting rights: She’ll restore the Voting Rights Act and expand access to the ballot nationwide.