Elizabeth Guzman

As a social worker, Elizabeth has seen first-hand how the criminal justice system has disproportionately impacted Black and Brown communities, and how easy it is for people to fall into the school-to-prison pipeline from a young age and never get the chance to rebuild their lives. As recently as a few years ago, Virginia was ranked the worst state in the country when it came to referring school discipline cases to the criminal justice system. That’s why Elizabeth made criminal justice reform one of her key issues from her first year in office.​

Elizabeth co-founded the Virginia Green New Deal coalition the is determined to leave a better planet to her four children, which is why she took on the environment as one of her key issues as a legislator. The League of Conservation Voters named Elizabeth a “Legislative Leader” in 2020.

Elizabeth believes health care is a human right and supports health care for all. She has fought and will continue to fight to expand health care access and affordability in Virginia. Elizabeth campaigned on Medicaid expansion and was a proud member of the freshmen class who helped deliver the votes to help Democrats achieve their long-time goal of expanding access to affordable health care to 400,000 people.

As a newly-appointed member of Prince William County’s jail board, Elizabeth led the charge to end the county’s 287(g) partnership with ICE. WAMU reported, "At the end of the meeting, Guzman thanked the ICE officials for their attendance, adding 'We need to use our local dollars to fix our own problems.

Elizabeth believes no one should have to choose between their health and a paycheck, but in Virginia 1.2 million workers have no paid time off. That’s why she has introduced a paid sick days bill every year and will do so again in the 2021 legislative session. Elizabeth sponsored and passed a bill to lift Virginia's blanket ban on public sector collective bargaining. Her bill, which takes effect in May 2021, will permit localities to opt-in to collective bargaining agreements with their employees. Virginia was one of only three states with such a ban. A University of Toledo law professor told the Washington Post the bill "would lift the spirits of labor in the United States.” Elizabeth will continue to fight for stronger collective bargaining laws until no worker is left behind.

Elizabeth will fight to build an inclusive Virginia in which everyone can thrive, no matter who we are or who we love. As a social worker and even within her own extended family, Elizabeth has seen LGBTQ+ children rejected by their parents or other relatives. That’s why Elizabeth introduced and is continuing to work on legislation to expand the definition of child abuse to include bullying a child based on gender identity or sexual orientation.

Elizabeth passed a budget amendment to study extending the Blue Line to Quantico. Elizabeth passed a bill to require localities to consider transit-oriented development in their comprehensive plans.

Elizabeth believes that honoring veterans begins with helping military families build wealth before they transition out of service and join the civilian world. The unemployment rate for military spouses is about five times the national average, with military spouses earning on average 27 percent less than their civilian counterparts, amounting to a loss of more than $10,000 each year for military families.

As someone who was a teen mom herself, Elizabeth will always fight for other women to make their own reproductive choices. She knows that women’s reproductive rights are human rights and that abortion care is health care. She has proudly voted to expand access to reproductive health care and is chief co-patron of a new law to lift the ban preventing health insurance plans that include abortion coverage from being sold on a state health exchange.