Roem handily won a four-way primary in June and is part of a surge of young, first-time candidates Democrats hope will help it retake control of the GOP-led chamber for the first time in nearly two decades.

Campaign finance reports show she's off to a strong fundraising start. Roem raised $151,487 in the first six months of the year, compared with Marshall's $18,564, leaving her with about $9,000 less than Marshall on hand after expenses.

Marshall was prohibited from fundraising when the legislature was in session during the first two months of the year.

During a recent interview, Roem, 32, energetically rattled off stats about issues like zoning and land use, topics she covered while reporting for two Virginia newspapers. She quit to campaign full time and said it's hard now to find time with her band, Cab Ride Home, which has played shows in the Midwest, along the East Coast and in Europe.

Roem started pursuing therapy to begin her gender transition when she was 28. While she talks openly about it — saying transitioning "fundamentally altered my life for the better" — she'd rather focus on local issues: jobs, schools and improving one of the area's most congested thoroughfares.

Marshall has spent too much time on social policy, she argues.