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Jena Lisa Crisler

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Jena Lisa Crisler
Image of Jena Lisa Crisler

Democratic Party

Candidate, Virginia House of Delegates District 35

Elections and appointments
Next election

November 4, 2025

Education

Bachelor's

University of Virginia, 1986

Graduate

Johns Hopkins Internal Medicine Residency Program, 2002

Medical

Nova Southeastern University, 1998

Personal
Profession
Physician
Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Instagram

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Personal Facebook

Personal YouTube

Jena Lisa Crisler (Democratic Party) is running for election to the Virginia House of Delegates to represent District 35. She is on the ballot in the general election on November 4, 2025.[source] The Democratic primary for this office on June 17, 2025, was canceled.

Crisler completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.

Elections

2025

See also: Virginia House of Delegates elections, 2025

General election

General election for Virginia House of Delegates District 35

Incumbent Chris Runion and Jena Lisa Crisler are running in the general election for Virginia House of Delegates District 35 on November 4, 2025.

Candidate
Image of Chris Runion
Chris Runion (R)
Image of Jena Lisa Crisler
Jena Lisa Crisler (D) Candidate Connection

Incumbents are bolded and underlined.

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Democratic primary election

The Democratic primary election was canceled. Jena Lisa Crisler advanced from the Democratic primary for Virginia House of Delegates District 35.

Republican primary election

The Republican primary election was canceled. Incumbent Chris Runion advanced from the Republican primary for Virginia House of Delegates District 35.

Endorsements

Ballotpedia is gathering information about candidate endorsements. To send us an endorsement, click here.

Campaign themes

2025

Video for Ballotpedia

Video submitted to Ballotpedia
Released June 10, 2025

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Candidate Connection

Jena Lisa Crisler completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Crisler's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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As a dedicated Internal Medicine physician since 1998, I practiced at Sentara Rockingham Memorial Hospital from 2003 to 2020. I understand the challenges faced by District 35. I work with insurance companies, hospitals and government programs, advocating always for my patients the care, the resources, the basic human dignity and rights we all deserve.
  • I stand for affordable and accessible healthcare for all Virginians, from the vulnerable to Veterans.
  • Livable wages and affordable housing
  • Defending the Constitution
Healthcare, Education, Constitutional rights
Dr Katalin Kariko, PhD, who in conjunction with Dr. Drew Weissman, M.D., PhD., applied groundbreaking research on mRNA, to the COVID virus, paving the way for rapid development of effective mRNA vaccines. We are on the cusp of medical breakthroughs in treatments of viruses and cancers if we as a society, a government, value basic research. It is our government's job to provide the tools for this research, even if the monetary application is not yet imaginable. Where would we be without the perseverance of Nikola Tesla and Madame Marie Curie?
I refer you to the works of some of the most admirable figures of the last 100 years. From Erin Brockovich, a meticulous and scrupulous patient advocate and environmental activist, to Frances Perkins, the first woman to serve in a U.S. presidential cabinet as Secretary of Labor, who created the blueprint for the Social Security Act of 1936, to Dr Katalin Kariko, PHD, a biochemist and researcher, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, and is best known for her work and applications with mRNA technology to bring the COVID pandemic under control in under a year.
I apply myself, have a quick learning curve, and am able to see many sides to questions. I approach issues on how we can get this done, not why we can't get this done.
Represent the best interests of all the constituents, while adhering to the Constitution, while protecting our natural resources, providing clean air, water, and soil.
If my efforts help at least one other person, I will have lived a worthwhile life.
I started working at 12, holding many jobs from babysitting to cleaning dog kennels. My first real job with a real paycheck was the drive through attendant and salad bar worker at Gino's in Maryland which sold Kentucky Fried Chicken. I was officially self sufficient from that time forward.
"From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler" by E.L. Konigsburg. had an enormous influence on me. It inspired me to study hard, plan, budget and dream of great things.
You're the One that I want by Olivia Newton John and John Travolta, because it's fun and catchy.
An ideal relationship involves cooperation, communication and mutual respect, allowing both branches to fulfill their constitutional duties effectively.
Addressing all the deficits to come from the recent federal budget act, from providing affordable and accessible healthcare, to providing the Constitutionally guaranteed high quality education to each child, to providing the basic safety net of clean water, adequate food and shelter for all our residents.
We all start somewhere, and we all have a learning curve. I have dedicated my life to making other lives better, with greater than 25 years as a practicing physician, I know I am up to the challenge.
In building relationships with other legislators, I will have opened up a raft of new opportunities, gain valuable knowledge and insights and develop a strong support network to achieve my goals of giving Virginians excellent healthcare, education, economic opportunities and protecting our natural resources.
Frances Perkins, FDRs Secretary of Labor and the first woman to serve as a cabinet secretary, was the driving force behind the New Deal. She developed Social Security, including old age pensions, unemployment compensation, aid to the disabled. She was instrumental in drafting the Fair Labor Standards of 1938 witch abolished child labor, set federal minimum wages, and maximum hours. She championed workers' rights, inducing right to organize unions and bargain collectively, demonstrating her unwavering support of labor during strikes and her role in the Wagner Act. As Secretary of Labor, Perkins tackled the devastating unemployment rates during the Great Depression, creating the Civilian Conservation Corps, providing jobs for millions of Americans. Frances Perkins was deeply committed to establishing a permanent social safety net for Americans, and so am I.
Yes, I would like to represent Virginia in Congress eventually.
At my first day of my first rotation of my third year of medical school, my very first patient was a 12 child, nine months pregnant, the survivor of incest, who had received no prenatal care. This child, brought in by her "auntie," was abandoned at our hospital. The intern, on his first day as a newly minted physician, and I counseled and examined her. The ultrasound showed a fetus with an extremely malformed heart that was not compatible with life. Clearly, the very fabric of our social safety network had failed this little girl. She was the victim of rape and incest. She had no prenatal care that would have clearly picked up the nonviability of this fetus, and thus she was forced to carry this pregnancy to term. At 12 years old, she was forced to have a clearly preventable and now emergent surgery to deliver the fetus. The fetus died. The child now was at the mercy of the state's social services. We could have and should have done much better by this child then and now. The one good thing to know is that the perpetrator of some of the crimes committed, the rape and incest, this child's father, was in prison. We, as a society, must work together so that others do not become like victims of these horrible crimes. We agree to govern so that we can walk safely, speak freely and live our lives without fear. I am committed to improve our social safety net. My very first patient's life, that has affected me so deeply, will not have been in vain. We must protect out most vulnerable. Food, shelter, education, and healthcare should be givens.
A man and his son are in a car accident. The man dies at the scene of the accident. The boy is rushed to the Emergency Room. He needs emergent surgery, and the ED doctor calls the trauma surgeon. The trauma surgeon immediately comes down. The trauma surgeon takes one look at the boy, the patient, and says, "Oh no! I cannot operate on this child for he is my son." Who is the trauma surgeon?
On an historical note, I heard this riddle on October 7, 1972, told by Gloria on the TV show, "All in the Family." Everyone wrestled with the answer during the entire episode, including 8-year-old me. Answers like his stepfather, his grandfather, his adopted father, even the priest were offered. I don't know too many priests who are also trauma surgeons. Not until the toilet flushed, and Edith came running down the stairs, screaming, "I got it! I got it!" did we all figure out the obvious. Children usually have two parents, and the trauma surgeon was his mother. At that moment, I realized how stacked the world was against females and have been striving to be the best at everything that interests me and supporting others, especially women, in their aspirations. I encourage everyone to go to school, study hard, and live up to their potential.
The legislature, not a single authoritarian power, should oversee and grant the use of emergency powers in clearly defined emergencies, not made up or clearly created emergencies.
I will address the failure of the federal government to maintain affordable healthcare for our working poor at the state level. I hope to institute universal health care at the state level, and bring it to the federal level.
Virginia Democratic Women's Caucus

Virginians for Change
Save the Children Action Network

Mental Health Now
Health and Human Services, Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources, Education and the Workforce
Clear and open reporting on all expenditures, decisions, and outcomes, domestically and internationally.
Yes, a state ballot initiative is a citizen-initiated ballot measure that allows citizens to propose statutes or constitutional amendments.

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 finance summary

Campaign finance information for this candidate is not yet available from OpenSecrets. That information will be published here once it is available.

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External links

Candidate

Virginia House of Delegates District 35
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    Personal

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    Footnotes


    Current members of the Virginia House of Delegates
    Leadership
    Speaker of the House:Don Scott
    Majority Leader:Charniele Herring
    Minority Leader:Terry Kilgore
    Representatives
    District 1
    District 2
    District 3
    District 4
    District 5
    District 6
    District 7
    District 8
    District 9
    District 10
    District 11
    District 12
    District 13
    District 14
    District 15
    District 16
    District 17
    District 18
    District 19
    District 20
    District 21
    District 22
    District 23
    District 24
    District 25
    District 26
    Jas Singh (D)
    District 27
    District 28
    District 29
    District 30
    District 31
    District 32
    District 33
    District 34
    Tony Wilt (R)
    District 35
    District 36
    District 37
    District 38
    District 39
    District 40
    District 41
    District 42
    District 43
    District 44
    District 45
    District 46
    District 47
    District 48
    District 49
    District 50
    District 51
    Eric Zehr (R)
    District 52
    District 53
    District 54
    District 55
    District 56
    District 57
    District 58
    District 59
    District 60
    District 61
    District 62
    District 63
    District 64
    District 65
    District 66
    District 67
    District 68
    District 69
    District 70
    District 71
    District 72
    Lee Ware (R)
    District 73
    District 74
    District 75
    District 76
    District 77
    District 78
    District 79
    District 80
    District 81
    District 82
    District 83
    District 84
    District 85
    District 86
    District 87
    District 88
    Don Scott (D)
    District 89
    District 90
    District 91
    District 92
    District 93
    District 94
    District 95
    District 96
    District 97
    District 98
    District 99
    District 100
    Democratic Party (51)
    Republican Party (49)


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