Virginia

Mother of Premature Twins Wins Virginia House of Delegates Seat

She found out she was expecting twins three weeks into her campaign

Three weeks after Jennifer Carroll Foy launched her campaign for the Virginia House of Delegates, she found out she was pregnant with twins.

The former public defender from Woodbridge gave birth to her identical boys, Alex and Xander, at only 23 weeks gestation. They weighed 1.5 pounds each.

On Tuesday, Foy won the 2nd District seat, beating Republican Mike Makee by a 26 percent margin.

Just three days later, Xander was healthy enough to come home from the hospital. Foy said her second baby, Alex, should be healthy enough to come home in about a week.

Throughout the election, the new mom said she had to divide her time wisely.

Foy said she spent days campaigning and nights with her newborns in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Inova Fairfax Hospital.

“There were no outside conversations about anything else that was happening in the world" at night, Foy said. "There were no phone calls regarding jobs or campaigns, it was just us and them — and it was absolutely amazing.”

Foy said her twins have shaped some of her policy interests. The VMI grad said she is passionate about paid maternity leave and medicaid benefits.

Her new district, which covers areas of eastern Prince William County and northern Stafford County, was left open after Republican Del. Mark Dudenhefer retired to run for supervisor in Stafford.

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