Virginia Democrat Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton managed to eke out a win in District 10 in 2022. A win that required a Hail Mary from Dr. Jill Biden to get her over the finish line. 

Tragically, there does not appear to be any Hail Marys for what she is now facing. In April, Wexton initially made an announcement that she was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease and was working with her doctor on treatment plans to address the condition. However, after Wexton did not respond to the treatments presented, further tests revealed a much more deadly condition, one that was not only incurable, but fast acting. Progressive supranuclear palsy was a disease that would not be beaten and would severely limit Wexton's ability to run for another term.

Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.) promised this spring to persevere as she revealed a Parkinson’s disease diagnosis that stilted her movements and slurred her speech, hurdles she hoped to overcome while serving a competitive Northern Virginia district.

But as Wexton, 55, failed to respond to treatments as hoped, this summer she found herself confronting a more serious diagnosis: progressive supranuclear palsy. Her instinct — the same thing that propelled her from the state Senate to Congress — was to fight.

“Can I still run for reelection?” she recalled asking her doctor, as they looked at the distinctive hummingbird shape on her brain scan that changed everything — again.

“Why would you want to?” the doctor replied.

Why indeed? While Wexton was a guaranteed Democrat party-line vote, she is no rising star like Democrat Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) or a lightning rod like Ayanna Presley (D-MA). A rubber stamp is distinctive in its lack of distinction—it can easily be replaced, and Wexton understood this.  

The rare neurological disorder — often mistaken for Parkinson’s because the early symptoms are similar — typically progresses more rapidly, does not respond as well to treatment and has no cure. Faced with the reality that her condition will likely only worsen, Wexton said she will not seek a fourth term next year, choosing instead to spend her remaining years with her family.

“People I know know I’ve struggled for a long time,” she said Saturday from her kitchen table in Leesburg. “I’ll be able to relax and enjoy the time I have left and the time I have left in Congress.”

Wexton made the right decision to take the time she had left to enjoy life, and her family. She obviously cares more about herself and her family than her political party, but she is a rare exception. The Democrat Party continues to show that they care little about the health of their representatives, preferring to use them as props for their agenda or placeholders to ensure they maintain legislative dominance. California Sen. Dianne Feinstein is the sorry poster child for this, as well as Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman.

Fetterman's condition was present before he was even elected, when he suffered a stroke on May 13, 2022 right in the midst of his campaign. The DNC and his wife Giselle managed to hide the worst of his condition and prop him up long enough for him to beat Dr. Mehmet Oz. One month after being sworn in, Fetterman was admitted to George Washington University Hospital after feeling lightheaded at a Democrat retreat. 

A few weeks after that, Fetterman admitted himself to Walter Reed Hospital for clinical depression. Our front page has been filled with report after report of Fetterman's incoherent ramblings, bizarre attacks on fellow congress members, and beyond-the-pale comments about Republicans that even made an MSNBC hack blush. Fetterman cannot even dress himself properly, so Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer nixed the dress code rules in order to accommodate him. Democrats have made it plain that they could not care less about the well-being of their people or even the well-being of the American people. 

The ballooning price of food and gas while President Joe Biden crows about the benefits of Bidenomics, is the glaring proof of just how disconnected they are from the concerns of average people. Democrats' ever-present obsession is maintaining their grip on power, no matter how tenuous.

A fish rots from the head, which is no more reflective than Biden's lack of mental agility or awareness. When the chief executive is an incoherent, cognitive mess, why would we expect other elected representatives to present themselves any better? Biden's Tuesday address to the the United Nations General Assembly was mumbling, and incoherent, and we saw him suffering cognitive freezes throughout the speech, as my colleague Nick Arama covered. While Wexton has our thoughts and prayers for comfort and grace as she manages this illness, she has hopefully dodged a bullet. Wexton will not join the growing ranks of representatives who, because of the Party's agenda, ignore debilitating illness, to the detriment of their constituents, and more importantly, themselves.