In her first comments to the press since announcing plans to resign, state Del. Michelle Lopes Maldonado (D-Manassas) told Dogwood her ailing parents played a big role in her decision to leave office.
State Del. Michelle Lopes Maldonado (D-Manassas) announced Tuesday morning that she was resigning from her office on May 31, before the end of her term and after serving in the House of Delegates since 2022.
In an exclusive interview with Dogwood, Maldonado said she was taking a job to head up AI policy at a think tank in Washington, DC called Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF).
Asked about the decision to resign early, Maldonado cited the challenges of serving in office while also supporting two ailing parents, one with a terminal condition and another who is undergoing cancer treatment.
“My family and I decided that we really want to be able to be fully present with our parents and our family, and that would require me to go back into the job market full time,” Maldonado said in a phone interview Tuesday afternoon.
She said she struggled to find employers willing to hire her and let her continue serving in the House of Delegates. Maldonado said she’s “heartbroken” over her decision to resign and called it her biggest regret from her time in office.
“I love serving and love representing the people of District 20, but my family really does need to come first in this moment,” Maldonado said.
Maldonado said it will be up to House of Delegates Speaker Don Scott to call a special election. She said she knows of some potential candidates who may run to replace her, but it was too early for her to endorse someone.
In an interview with Dogwood, Maldonado reflected on her time in office, the need for better pay for legislators, and how divisive rhetoric hurts American politics.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Dogwood: What are some key themes and big lessons from your time in office?
Maldonado: The lessons learned is that it takes such a large village to come together to make the change happen, and people have to be willing to do the hard work and come together in unity to be able to achieve the change that we’re looking for. And the thing that brought me the greatest joy is that many things we did in these places were bipartisan.
Dogwood: What are you most proud of?
Maldonado: I am proud of my team, my chief of staff, Alex Cintron, and my various legislative aides. They are the ones that really help us be successful. I’m really proud of the legislation we brought forward, particularly in our consumer protection spaces like Larry’s Law, protecting our elders and vulnerable adults from financial scams, or cryptocurrency legislation that we passed this year also helping to protect against scams. Our baby food labeling bill, which requires disclosure of toxic heavy metals in baby food.
Dogwood: Anything you regret from your time in office?
Maldonado: I regret that I couldn’t finish out my term. It is very hard for legislators. There are a number of legislators currently struggling to stay in office because the pay is so low. And people often say, “But you’re just part time legislators.” But what they don’t understand is that it’s actually full-time work year round. It’s really hard to stay in office unless you have, say, a partner who can financially support you, or you have a business that can run and operate without you, or you’re just a person of means.
I regret that we don’t pay our legislators what they really need to be able to stay in office and that has impacted not just my desire to be with my parents, my family, but it has impacted my ability to financially continue the work, as it has for so many legislators.
Dogwood: As someone who’s seen how the sausage gets made, what do you wish more people understood about politics?
Maldonado: I can say the same thing, you know that I’ve always said along the way. It’s also the one thing that inspired me to run in the first place, and that is that we have to stop with this incredibly divisive way that we are interacting with one another. It is not only harmful, it’s destructive to the fabric of families, of communities, of our nation, of our international standing. These things are harmful, and we seem to get lost in the fighting and the finger pointing, and we’ve got to find enough people who are willing to stand up, stand in the gap and exercise moral courage with healthy boundaries to talk about what’s right and to be able to bring people together.
