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Former Space Force Col. Bree Fram, who was forced to retire under the Trump administration’s ban on transgender military service members, filed Tuesday to run for Congress as a Democrat.
Fram filed in Virginia’s 11th Congressional District, now represented by Democratic Rep. James Walkinshaw. However, she said her campaign could shift to the neighboring 10th District or another district if Virginia voters approve mid-cycle redistricting in an expected spring referendum.
If elected, Fram would become the second transgender member of Congress, following Delaware Rep. Sarah McBride’s election in 2024.
“I never planned to run for office,” Fram said in her campaign announcement. “Too many Americans are afraid of what their own government is doing to them, instead of confident it’s working for them. That’s why I’m running for Congress.”
Fram joined the military after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, continuing a family history of service that includes relatives who served in both world wars. She began in the Air Force, deployed to Iraq and Qatar, managed national security programs worth billions of dollars and held senior Pentagon positions.
In 2021, Fram became a founding member of the U.S. Space Force. She rose to colonel during more than 23 years in uniform before being forced to retire at the end of 2025 as the administration barred transgender people from military service.
A longtime Northern Virginia resident, Fram lives in Reston with her wife and their two children, who attend Fairfax County Public Schools.
Her campaign lists protecting democracy, improving families’ economic stability, strengthening national security, defending human rights and making government services more effective among its leading priorities.
“My oath to the Constitution has no expiration date,” Fram said. “I am simply lacing up for a different battlefield — one where the weapons are words, votes, organizing, and relentless hope. This is our country too. It has always been our country. And it is still worth fighting for.”
Walkinshaw won election in September 2025 to succeed Rep. Gerry Connolly, who died from esophageal cancer that May. The heavily Democratic 11th District covers most of western and central Fairfax County and all of Fairfax City.
The 10th District is less solidly Democratic but has remained in Democratic hands since Jennifer Wexton flipped the seat in 2018. It includes Fairfax County’s Clifton area, all of Loudoun County, part of Prince William County and several other localities.
Democratic Rep. Suhas Subramanyam has represented the 10th District since winning election in 2024, after Wexton retired following a diagnosis of progressive supranuclear palsy.