It’s the 12 Days of Ballotpedia! Your gift powers the trusted, unbiased information voters need heading into 2026. Donate now!
Taysha DeVaughan
Taysha DeVaughan (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Virginia's 9th Congressional District. She lost in the general election on November 8, 2022.
DeVaughan completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Taysha DeVaughan was born in Lawton, Oklahoma. She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Virginia's College at Wise in 2018. She also attended Cameron University and Comanche Nation College. Her career experience includes working as an organizer.[1]
Elections
2022
See also: Virginia's 9th Congressional District election, 2022
General election
General election for U.S. House Virginia District 9
Incumbent H. Morgan Griffith defeated Taysha DeVaughan in the general election for U.S. House Virginia District 9 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | H. Morgan Griffith (R) | 73.2 | 182,207 |
 | Taysha DeVaughan (D)  | 26.5 | 66,027 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.2 | 555 | ||
| Total votes: 248,789 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Taysha DeVaughan (D)
Republican primary election
The Republican primary election was canceled. Incumbent H. Morgan Griffith advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House Virginia District 9.
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
Democratic convention
The Democratic convention was canceled. Taysha DeVaughan advanced from the Democratic convention for U.S. House Virginia District 9.
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Taysha DeVaughan completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by DeVaughan's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
| Collapse all
Soon after graduating from UVA-Wise in 2018 with a BA in Communications, Taysha began her career at the Appalachian Community Fund as a Regional Organizer and was quickly promoted to her current position as the Donor Engagement Coordinator. Since making Virginia her home, she has been an active member of her community. She was President of Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, active in Lonesome Pine Mutual Aid, and is a gubernatorial appointee to the Virginia Council on Environmental Justice.
“I come from a culture where preserving and carrying forward our peoples’ traditions and values is a duty. I also recognize that true success requires generational thinking and looking ahead beyond ourselves because what we do today, good or bad, is the next generation’s inheritance".”
“As we look to the future, we must preserve our traditional values in the 9th, but we must also embrace the youth of our communities and what they want and deserve.”- The 9th Congressional District has a long and proud history of producing energy that has powered the nation for decades. This proud tradition we must continue. Investing in the diversity of new and sustainable energy production technologies will power us through the next hundred years, while creating thousands of jobs across the 9th. We can build a just transition in our region by inviting new businesses and retraining our workforce. I believe that the environment vs. economic development approach is actually a “yes/and approach. We can protect our environment and strengthen our economy simultaneously by inviting companies that create sustainable jobs because paying a living wage with quality benefits is paramount to the 9th’s success.
- Overall health in our 9th district has suffered declines in the areas of physical, mental, economic and environmental. In order to achieve healthy and sustainable communities we must ensure that everyone has access to quality affordable healthcare. All across the 9th, I have spoken with several people and families that have been impacted by the decline of their health. The commonality I found was the challenges. Those challenges included provider shortages, infrastructure limitations, and long distances to care. Some answers to these challenges come in the form of programs and services such as telehealth, healthcare workforce programs, health centers, and clinics that expand access and improve care.
- The youth in our 9th Congressional District are leaving at alarming rates. If we hope for our youth to stay here, succeed, and raise their families here. It is up to us to ensure that the 9th district is a place they want to live. All across the 9th district, I have spoken with smart, intelligent, and driven young people that love our district and desire to stay close to family and be able to work and prosper. They hope for a better, more inclusive world and the opportunity to succeed and contribute to their communities’ well-being. They demand a standard of living that is beyond survival. Young people care about the meaning of the work they do, the impact they have on the world, and most importantly each other.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign website
DeVaughan's campaign website stated the following:
| “ |
The solutions in Virginia’s 9th Congressional district include expanding access to vital services, and advocating for environmental and worker’s justice, all while engaging and consulting with members of each community across the district. Everyone deserves a seat at the table! This includes investing federal dollars towards several rural initiatives, projects, programs.
The youth in our 9th Congressional District are leaving at alarming rates. If we hope for our youth to stay here, succeed, and raise their families here. It is up to us to ensure that the 9th district is a place they want to live. All across the 9th district, I have spoken with smart, intelligent, and driven young people that love our district and desire to stay close to family and be able to work and prosper. They hope for a better, more inclusive world and the opportunity to succeed and contribute to their communities’ well-being. They demand a standard of living that is beyond survival. Young people care about the meaning of the work they do, the impact they have on the world, and most importantly each other. People want their work to matter. What young people want: Youth wants to live in health & prosperity. I will fight in support of educational opportunities, improvements to our transportation networks, growing access to affordable healthcare, and building from within a diversity of jobs that are both sustainable & fulfilling. With your support, I will fight so that every worker in the 9th district has a living wage. Young families want to thrive while protecting & enjoying the mountains, waterways, and lands we all cherish. I will fight to support a comprehensive, equitable approach that accounts for impacts on our environment & ecology while continuing a just economic transition. One that secures the beauty of our national forests repairs our land and opens up access to outdoor spaces for us all. To ensure our future in the 9th district, we must have faith in and listen to the voices of our youth. I believe we must take seriously the thoughts, ideas, and expectations of our youth while laying a solid foundation for a future right here in the 9th district.
The 9th Congressional District has a long and proud history of producing energy that has powered the nation for decades. This is a proud tradition we must continue. Investing in the diversity of new and sustainable energy production technologies will power us through the next hundred years, while creating thousands of jobs across the 9th. We can build a just transition of high-paying sustainable jobs in our region by inviting new businesses and retraining our workforce. I believe that the environment vs. economic development approach is actually a “yes/and approach. I know we can protect our environment and strengthen our economy at the same time by inviting companies that create sustainable jobs because paying a living wage with quality benefits is paramount to the 9th’s success. The Environmental Justice 4 All Act is a pathway to this approach, a plan to make a federal investment in programs and projects that prioritize environmentally impacted regions.
Overall health in our 9th district has suffered declines in the areas of physical, mental, economic and environmental. In order to achieve healthy and sustainable communities we must ensure that everyone has access to quality affordable healthcare. All across the 9th, I have spoken with several people and families that have been impacted by the decline of their health. The commonality I found was the challenges. Those challenges included provider shortages, infrastructure limitations, and long distances to care. Some answers to these challenges come in the form of programs and services such as telehealth, healthcare workforce programs, health centers, and clinics that expand access and improve care. I believe that we can do better through expanded federal investment that ensures the long-term sustainability of hospitals, recovery, and mental health facilities.[2] |
” |
| —Taysha DeVaughan's campaign website (2022)[3] | ||
See also
2022 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on September 28, 2022
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ DeVaughan For Congress, “Taysha's Approach,” accessed October 31, 2022
