Leslie Chambers Mehta is the member of the Virginia House of Delegates representing the 73rd District . Born in 1977 in New York, New York, she is an African American Baptist attorney married to Tarun Mehta, with one child, Blair Mehta. Her eldest daughter died from Rett syndrome in 2021. Mehta grew up in rural North Carolina, where her mother was a social worker and her father a corrections officer. Notable achievements include serving as former legal director for the ACLU of Virginia, interim CEO of the International Rett Syndrome Foundation, and appointments to Governor Ralph Northam's Commission on Racial Inequity in the Law and Governor Glenn Youngkin's Rare Disease Council. She won election to the House on November 4, 2025, defeating Republican incumbent Mark Earley Jr., and took office on January 14, 2026. Previously, she ran unsuccessfully as the Democratic nominee for Virginia's 1st Congressional District in 2024.

Education and Political Experience

• Education: North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics ; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ; Howard University School of Law .
• Political Experience: Elected to Virginia House of Delegates, 73rd District ; former Legal Director, ACLU of Virginia; bipartisan gubernatorial appointee on racial inequity and rare disease councils; 2024 congressional candidate .