EXCLUSIVE: The Republican cousin of Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia Thursday launched a campaign for Congress in California as she tries to flip a blue seat red.
In an announcement shared first with Fox News Digital, entrepreneur Jenny Rae Le Roux declared her candidacy for the U.S. House in California's 47th Congressional District, a competitive seat in Orange County that is held by first-term Democratic Rep. Dave Min, who is seeking re-election.
The Orange County district is being targeted by the National Republican Congressional Committee, the campaign arm of the House GOP, as the party works to protect its razor-thin majority in the chamber in the 2026 midterm elections. Le Roux is one of four Republican candidates running in the June 2 primary against Min.
"I'm running because I love this district," Le Roux told Fox News Digital. "I love California, and I don't think that Dave Min has represented this district in a way that people are excited about."
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Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesperson Anna Elsasser told Fox News Digital that Min "is focused on getting the job done in Congress and standing up to Donald Trump's outrageous attacks on America's working families and our rule of law. Voters in Orange County know that Dave has their back, and they'll have his in November."
But Le Roux argued that Min, who succeeded former Democratic Rep. Katie Porter in representing the district, which includes Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Newport Beach and Seal Beach, "presented as a moderate" as he ran for Congress two years ago, but "he is governing and messaging as a progressive."
"A lot of my district is actually not that interested in progressive politics. They want schools that work, roads that operate, police that show up. They want the basic functioning of a governmental society that works," Le Roux emphasized.
That's the same argument Le Roux makes about her second cousin, whom she calls Abby.
"She really ran as a moderate in Virginia and is governing as a progressive, which I think is disenfranchising a lot of Democrat voters," Le Roux claimed.
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Pointing to her cousin, a former CIA intelligence officer who served three terms in Congress before winning election in 2025 as Virginia's first female governor, Le Roux said, "Abby and I grew up together. We spent a lot of time in the summers at family pool parties together. We actually graduated the same year from the University of Virginia together, and spend a lot of time [together], even in adulthood. She has three daughters. I have three sons."
"I've watched her bent toward public service, which is something that we both share. I think both of us grew up in a strong family with a love for community and a love for our country and a really strong sense of patriotism," Le Roux added.
Le Roux said Spanberger's career path into politics motivated her to get more politically involved.
So did the COVID-19 pandemic.
"What really activated me into politics was COVID," she said. "I had a farm, a family and a business, and all of those came under attack during COVID."
Le Roux, pointing to Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, said, "I felt like our governor was doing an incredibly poor job, both with everything related to school closures and also related to everything else happening in the state, homelessness and crime and other issues."
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Le Roux ran for governor as a Republican in the 2021 recall election and again in the regularly scheduled 2022 gubernatorial election, coming in fourth in the primary.
She currently serves as director of CAL DOGE, an initiative launched by California Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton, a former Fox News contributor and host, and state controller candidate Herb Morgan.
Le Roux said that her decision to run for Congress was a direct result of the work she's done with Cal DOGE to uncover the waste, fraud and abuse in government.
"Cal DOGE has been eye opening. Washington enables the same dysfunction and corruption that is hurting California," Le Roux said in a statement. "We can't fix what is broken in our government unless outsiders who haven't been part of the problem step up to serve."
And she told Fox News Digital, "I think we need to have full transparency of where the money is going, who it is going to. I think that we have a unique opportunity to do that now with technology that wasn't available in the past."
Le Roux said her views largely have "been shaped by watching all of the failed policies in California and wanting to reverse them, which is one of the reasons why I'm not just a Republican, but a staunch conservative Republican, a fiscal conservative, and I'm passionate about really bringing government back toward local control."
As for her cousin, Le Roux said: "I love her ... I congratulate her when she wins races. And I pray for her. I believe that we should pray for all of our leaders, regardless of party, and I absolutely believe we should keep conversation lines open. But Abby and I don't agree right now on much politically."
"We're in an interesting place as a family right now," she added.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Gov. Spanberger's office for any comment.
