Richmond Times Dispatch: Yasmine Taeb, a Northern Virginia human rights lawyer and a member of the Democratic National Committee, announced Thursday that she’s launching a primary challenge to the most powerful Democrat in the Virginia Senate.

Her challenge to Senate Minority Leader Dick Saslaw of Fairfax County, who represents the 35th state Senate District, pits an activist from the progressive wing of the party against a lawmaker who has served in the legislature since 1976 and is close with some of the state’s most influential lobbies.

The primary will be in June. The strongly Democratic district includes parts of Fairfax County, Falls Church and Alexandria.

In a video making her announcement, Taeb said she was 6 when her family fled Iran, crossing the southern U.S. border without documentation. She grew up in Florida and graduated from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, where 17 people were killed in a shooting in February. One of them was coach Aaron Feis, a former classmate of Taeb’s.

Taeb, a Muslim, said President Donald Trump’s call for a “complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the U.S. prompted her to run for the Democratic National Committee.

“Some elected officials are more interested in siding with powerful corporations than the people they represent,” she said in the video. “The old Virginia Way of pay-to-play politics is failing countless working families. We must give voice to the most vulnerable in our communities.”

Saslaw, who has held the Senate seat since 1980, could not be reached for comment.