Manassas City resident and local activist Helen Zurita announced her bid for the House of Delegates in the 50th District in a press release on Monday morning.

Zurita, a long-time community advocate for the residents of Manassas City and Prince William County, ran for Manassas City Council last year. As the leader of the Save Our Homes Alliance, she worked to save many of her neighbors from eviction from the East End Mobile Home community in 2017. Additionally, during the COVID-19 Pandemic, she set up the East End Food Pantry to deliver donated food to low-income families that needed it most.

“I have worked hard as a volunteer and as an advocate to give people in my community a voice,” Zurita said in a statement. “We have been overlooked and ignored for too long. Constituent services have been lacking, and I am going to change that. I intend to use my platform to ensure that the residents in the 50th District have a proven leader and advocate.”

She was recently named as one of Prince William Living Magazine’s Most Influential Women of 2021, and in 2020, she received the Human Rights Award from the Prince William County Human Rights Commission.

The 50th District, currently represented by Delegate Lee Carter who is running for Governor of Virginia, is composed of parts of Manassas City and Prince William County. Carter has yet to announce whether he will be running in the 50th District as well, however, Republican Michael Allers, Jr. is running.