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After retiring from her environmental law career, Mary Jo Sheeley spent much of her newfound free time volunteering for the Hillary Clinton campaign. Upset by President Donald Trump’s victory and shaken by the feeling that the things she believes in could no longer be taken for granted, she vowed to stay active.

She marched with hundreds of thousands of other women in D.C., then got together with small groups of other activists to talk about what to do next.

“It’s so clear what we need to do,” Sheeley said. “We need to look at what is going on locally. And we need to change the balance of power in the General Assembly.”

Instead of making calls and knocking on doors for someone else, Sheeley, 61, is running for office herself, part of an unprecedented rush of candidates for the Virginia House of Delegates this year fueled largely by opposition to Trump.

Republicans hold a dominant 66-34 majority in the House, but Democrats hope the swell of anti-Trump activism in Virginia, the only Southern state Trump did not win, could lead to a 2017 wave in down-ticket House races as Virginians elect a governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general.