A. Donald McEachin
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Aston Donald McEachin ( ; October 10, 1961 – November 28, 2022) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the
U.S. representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...
for
Virginia's 4th congressional district Virginia's fourth congressional district is a List of United States congressional districts, United States congressional district in the state of Virginia, taking in most of the area between Richmond, Virginia, Richmond and the North Carolina ...
from 2017 until his death in 2022. His district was based in the state capital,
Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...
; it included much of the area between Richmond, a portion of its
suburbs A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...
, and
Hampton Roads Hampton Roads is a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James River, James, Nansemond River, Nansemond, and Elizabeth River (Virginia), Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's Point near whe ...
. A member of the Democratic Party, McEachin served in the
Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two houses of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbe ...
from 1996 until 2002 and then served an additional term from 2006 until 2008. In 2001, he was the Democratic nominee in the Virginia Attorney General election, which he lost to Jerry Kilgore. He was first elected to represent
Virginia's 4th congressional district Virginia's fourth congressional district is a List of United States congressional districts, United States congressional district in the state of Virginia, taking in most of the area between Richmond, Virginia, Richmond and the North Carolina ...
in 2016, filling an open seat vacated by Randy Forbes. McEachin was the first African American nominated by a major party for Virginia Attorney General. He was the third African American elected to Congress from Virginia and the second elected from the state since the 19th century.


Early life, education, and legal career

McEachin was born in
Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...
,
West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...
, while his father was serving in the
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...
. He attended St. Christopher's School in Richmond. In 1982, he received a bachelor's degree in political history from
American University The American University (AU or American) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Its main campus spans 90-acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, in the Spri ...
. After that, he attended the University of Virginia School of Law, where he received a J.D. in 1986. He also received a
Master of Divinity For graduate-level theological institutions, the Master of Divinity (MDiv, ''magister divinitatis'' in Latin) is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America. It is the most common academic degree in seminaries and ...
from
Virginia Union University Virginia Union University is a Private university, private Historically black colleges and universities, historically black university in Richmond, Virginia. History The American Baptist Home Mission Society (ABHMS) founded the school as Rich ...
in 2008. In 2012, he was awarded ''honoris causa'' membership in
Omicron Delta Kappa Omicron Delta Kappa (), also known as The Circle and ODK, is an American collegiate honor society that recognizes leadership and scholarship. It was founded in 1914, at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia and has chartered more t ...
, the National Leadership Honor Society. McEachin began to practice law in Richmond after completing law school, eventually becoming a partner in his own firm, McEachin and Gee.


Virginia Legislature

McEachin was first elected to the House of Delegates from the 74th district in 1995. After three terms there, he ran in the 2001 Virginia Attorney General election. He won a four-way Democratic primary with 33.6% of the vote, but lost the general election to Republican nominee Jerry Kilgore by 20 percentage points. In 2005 he ran again for the 74th House district, defeating his predecessor, Floyd Miles, by 44 votes in the Democratic primary, and winning the general election with 75% of the vote. In 2007, McEachin ran for the state senate, challenging 9th district incumbent Benjamin Lambert, who drew criticism within the Democratic Party for his endorsement of Republican U.S. Senator George Allen in Allen's unsuccessful 2006 reelection campaign against
Jim Webb James Henry Webb Jr. (born February 9, 1946) is an American politician and author. He has served as a United States senator from Virginia, Secretary of the Navy, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, Counsel for the United States ...
. After defeating Lambert 58%-42% in the primary, McEachin won 81% of the vote against
independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...
Silver Persinger in the general election. McEachin was unopposed for reelection in 2011.


United States House of Representatives

Midway through his third term in the state senate, McEachin got an opportunity to transfer to federal politics. A federal court threw out Virginia's original congressional map as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. A new map saw all of Petersburg and most of the majority-black precincts in
Henrico County Henrico County , officially the County of Henrico, is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 334,389 making it the fifth-most populous county in Virginia. Henrico Coun ...
shifted from the 3rd district to the 4th district. The 4th also picked up all of Richmond, which had previously been split between the 3rd and 7th districts. The 4th had been represented by Republican Randy Forbes since a 2001 special election, but the addition of these majority-black areas turned the 4th from a Republican-leaning swing district into a heavily Democratic district. Rather than face certain defeat in the redrawn 4th, Forbes made an unsuccessful bid for the Republican nomination in the neighboring 2nd district. McEachin, whose then-home in unincorporated Henrico County lay just outside the redrawn 4th's boundaries, defeated Chesapeake City Councilwoman Ella Ward for the Democratic nomination. He then handily defeated Republican Henrico County Sheriff Mike Wade in the general election. He was reelected three times with no substantive opposition.


Committee assignments

McEachin was a member of the following committees and subcommittees during the 117th Congress: *
Committee on Energy and Commerce A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...
** Subcommittee on Communications and Technology ** Subcommittee on Energy ** Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change * Committee on Natural Resources ** Energy and Mineral Resources ** Oversight and Investigations * Select Committee on the Climate Crisis


Caucus memberships

*
New Democrat Coalition The New Democrat Coalition is a caucus in the House of Representatives of the United States Congress made up of Democrats, primarily liberals and centrists, who take a pro-business stance and a liberal-to-moderate approach to fiscal matte ...
*
Congressional Black Caucus The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) is made up of Black members of the United States Congress. Representative Yvette Clarke from New York, the current chairperson, succeeded Steven Horsford from Nevada in 2025. Although most members belong ...


Political positions

McEachin voted with President Joe Biden's stated position 100% of the time in the 117th Congress, according to a ''
FiveThirtyEight ''FiveThirtyEight'', also rendered as ''538'', was an American website that focused on opinion poll analysis, politics, economics, and sports blogging in the United States. The website, which took its name from the number of electors in the U ...
'' analysis.


Electoral history


Illness and death

In 2018, McEachin revealed that he had developed a
fistula In anatomy, a fistula (: fistulas or fistulae ; from Latin ''fistula'', "tube, pipe") is an abnormal connection (i.e. tube) joining two hollow spaces (technically, two epithelialized surfaces), such as blood vessels, intestines, or other h ...
after completing treatment for
colorectal cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the Colon (anatomy), colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include Lower gastrointestinal ...
in 2014, losing more than as a result. He advocated regular testing for colon cancer/colorectal cancer, telling attendees at a 2022 special screening of the film '' Black Panther: Wakanda Forever'' (a sequel to ''
Black Panther A black panther is the Melanism, melanistic colour variant of the leopard (''Panthera pardus'') and the jaguar (''Panthera onca''). Black panthers of both species have excess black pigments, but their typical Rosette (zoology), rosettes are al ...
'', whose star,
Chadwick Boseman Chadwick Aaron Boseman (; November 29, 1976August 28, 2020) was an American actor. Through his two-decade career, he appeared in a number of projects spanning both blockbuster and independent films, and received various accolades, including ...
, died of colon cancer), "Don't fool around. Don't go through my journey", two weeks before his death. McEachin died at his home in Richmond of complications of cancer on November 28, 2022, at the age of 61. His death came a few weeks after his reelection to a fourth term in the 2022 elections. Tributes to McEachin were paid by outgoing
Speaker of the House The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England. Usage The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hung ...
Nancy Pelosi Nancy Patricia Pelosi ( ; ; born March 26, 1940) is an American politician who was the List of Speakers of the United States House of Representatives, 52nd speaker of the United States House of Representatives, serving from 2007 to 2011 an ...
, as well as fellow Virginia Democratic representative
Gerry Connolly Gerald Edward Connolly (March 30, 1950 – May 21, 2025) was an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for Virginia's 11th congressional district from 2009 until his death in 2025. A Democrat, he was first elected in 2008 ...
and both of Virginia's U.S. Senators,
Mark Warner Mark Robert Warner (born December 15, 1954) is an American businessman and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Virginia, a seat he has held since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, Warner served as the 69th gove ...
and
Tim Kaine Timothy Michael Kaine ( ; born February 26, 1958) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States senator from Virginia since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party (United States ...
(who had known McEachin since 1984). McEachin was succeeded by Jennifer McClellan, a fellow Democrat who held McEachin's former state senate seat, in a
special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...
on February 21, 2023. McEachin is buried in the Mount Calvary Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia.


Personal life

McEachin and his wife, Colette, had three children and lived in Richmond. In 2019, Colette McEachin became interim Commonwealth's Attorney for
Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...
(having served in that office for 20 years), won the Democratic nomination on August 10, and was unopposed in the special election on November 5. On August 25, 2015, McEachin's name was found on the userlist leaked from the
data breach A data breach, also known as data leakage, is "the unauthorized exposure, disclosure, or loss of personal information". Attackers have a variety of motives, from financial gain to political activism, political repression, and espionage. There ...
of the Ashley Madison website. His response was, "At this time, this is a personal issue between my family and me. I will have no further statement on this issue." McEachin was a
Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...
.Religious affiliation of members of 117th Congress
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See also

* List of African-American United States representatives * List of United States Congress members who died in office (2000–)#2020s


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:McEachin, A. Donald 1961 births 2022 deaths 20th-century African-American politicians 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century African-American politicians 21st-century American lawyers African-American members of the United States House of Representatives African-American state legislators in Virginia American University alumni Baptists from Virginia Candidates in the 2001 United States elections Deaths from cancer in Virginia Deaths from colorectal cancer in the United States Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Virginia Democratic Party members of the Virginia House of Delegates Democratic Party Virginia state senators Elected officials who died without taking their seats Lawyers from Richmond, Virginia People from Henrico County, Virginia Politicians from Nuremberg Politicians from Richmond, Virginia St. Christopher's School (Richmond, Virginia) alumni University of Virginia School of Law alumni Virginia Union University alumni 20th-century African-American lawyers 21st-century African-American lawyers 21st-century members of the United States House of Representatives 21st-century members of the Virginia General Assembly 20th-century members of the Virginia General Assembly