Bringing Experience and Dedication to the 35th District

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“We all deserve to live safely, speak freely and move though our lives without fear.”
Jena Crisler DO

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Growing up in the Maryland suburbs of DC, I knew a security that most would envy. Then, in 1981, my dad—a research chemist for Washington, DC—was RIFed (essentially fired). My mother, chain-smoking furiously, hissed, “No one EVER told me I would be the head of a household of six.”

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At that exact moment, I vowed to get my education and never be financially dependent on another person.

Scraping together grants, scholarships, and my waitressing tips from Shoney’s, I graduated from the University of Virginia. I bounced around DC for a few years, then set sail for France—around the world, one nannying gig at a time. Two years later, I yo-yoed home.

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My mother, then very sick with MS (multiple sclerosis), once again became the catalyst for change, demanding, “What are you going to do with your life?”

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This time, I had a great answer: “I want to be a physician.”

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My first job at Rockingham Memorial Hospital became my home. In 2003, I was one of the first female physicians at RMH outside of pediatrics and OB/GYN. My husband and I bought a money pit in Port Republic and have been living our version of Green Acres ever since. As my mother became sicker, I took a position in Maryland to be closer to her—but I just could not leave my little village of Port Republic.

Now, as our immigrant neighbors risk kidnapping trying to go to work in poultry houses and farms, and as thoughtless policies gut our healthcare, our peaceful, democratic community—and the nation—teeters on the brink of social collapse.

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I have been activated by common decency and common sense.

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To the rural Virginians of Bath, Highland, Augusta, and Rockingham counties in the 35th District, I will fight for:

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*Accessible and affordable healthcare for all

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*Excellent public education for all

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*Women’s bodily autonomy, constitutionally protected

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*Free and fair press

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*Expanded veterans’ benefits

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*Targeting corporate polluters to clean up Virginia’s air, water, and soil—we brought the Chesapeake Bay back from near death, and I’m not about to give up

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*Abolish the Right to Work, which is neither right nor about the workers

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