Olivia Troye, Trump aide turned critic, launches Virginia congressional bid

Olivia Troye, a first-term Trump administration staffer who emerged as a vocal critic of the president in 2020, is launching a run for Congress as a Democrat in Virginia.

In a Tuesday campaign launch video, Troye cast herself as the candidate best positioned to take on President Donald Trump, pointing to the president bypassing Congress in sending federal immigration agents to U.S. cities and starting a war in Iran.

“Trump doesn’t scare me,” she said. “I took him on when it mattered the most. And I’m ready to do it again. It’s time to send some real courage to Congress.”

Troye worked for then-Vice President Mike Pence during Trump's first term, advising him on counterterrorism and homeland security. She also served on the White House’s coronavirus task force before leaving the administration in a public split months before the 2020 presidential election.

Troye then became an active critic of Trump, slamming the president for minimizing the Covid-19 pandemic and sharing fears that Trump wouldn’t accept the results of the election if he lost to then-Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

“The evil I saw in that White House was staggering,” she said in her launch video. “In 2020, I finally said ‘enough.’ And they came for me. Kash Patel, Stephen Miller, even Trump himself. They sent MAGA after me, tried to bankrupt me, threatened to kill me. They thought they could silence me.”

Troye is planning on running in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District, should Virginia voters approve a ballot measure next week to allow Democrats to gerrymander the state’s congressional lines. Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-Va.), who represents the current battleground formulation of the 7th District, plans to run in the 1st District if the map is redrawn.

The new 1st and 7th Districts would both be blue-leaning.

Virginia Democrats argue the redistricting move is necessary to keep up with Republicans’ aggressive mid-decade redistricting in Texas, Missouri and, perhaps soon, Florida.

Virginia voters will head to the polls on April 21. And while a slim majority of voters told a Washington Post/Schar School poll last week that they support the redistricting initiative, a sizable enthusiasm gap between Republicans and Democrats is sending alarm bells for Democrats that supporters might not be able to get it over the line.