Olivia Troye, an adviser to former Vice President Mike Pence who became a critic of President Donald Trump, announced Tuesday that she is running for a House seat in Virginia as a Democrat.
Troye became a fierce critic of Trump after she resigned from her position as Pence’s homeland security and counterterrorism adviser in 2020, criticizing the president over his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“They sent MAGA after me,” Troye said in a video announcing her campaign. “Tried to bankrupt me. Threatened to kill me. They thought they could silence me. They obviously don’t know me very well.”
After leaving the first Trump administration, Troye remained a Republican but joined a growing number of former Trump administration officials turning into critics.
In 2024, she spoke at the Democratic National Convention as one of the Republicans supporting Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign.
But now, Troye is abandoning the Republican Party to run as a Democrat in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District.
“In 2024, nothing could keep me from telling the truth on the stage of the Democratic National Convention,” she said. “Because I believe in fighting for what’s right — for those who can’t fight for themselves. That’s why I’m a Democrat, and that’s why I’m running for Congress.”
Troye was a longtime Republican, beginning her career working in GOP politics through the Republican National Committee and former President George W. Bush’s administration.
However, she admitted in the campaign launch video that she voted for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election against Trump. Despite her candidate not winning, Troye said she continued to go to work.
“But after Trump won, I kept showing up to work because serving your country isn’t supposed to be partisan,” she said.
Troye said she “had enough” in 2020.
“The evil I saw in that White House was staggering,” she said. “In 2020, I finally said, ‘Enough,’ and they came for me.”
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Troye joins a crowded field preparing to run in the 7th Congressional District that is up for a vote in a statewide proposal next week to change the district map in favor of Democrats.
About a half-dozen Democrats have already announced plans to run in the district if voters approve the new map on April 21, including former Virginia first lady Dorothy McAuliffe and former federal prosecutor J.P. Cooney.