Growing up in Northern Virginia, I have experienced a great amount of political turmoil. I grew up in Sterling, Virginia, where the divide between the affluent and the underprivileged is a vast and deep canyon. Half of my community lived off of the free and reduced lunch system that Loudoun County provides for students who may not have the means to eat outside of school hours, and the other half lived in million dollar homes that back up on to Trump National Golf Club. For most of my life, my family has been comfortable, and I’ve never really had to worry about where my next meal would come from, but I was always hyper-aware of how some of my friends would take home backpacks full of food as a part of my church’s outreach ministry.
Such a divide in wealth and opportunity means that Loudoun County, as a part of Virginia’s tenth congressional district, has become more of a swing vote, and that representation for all is more important now than ever.
The candidates for Virginia’s 10th congressional district consist of incumbent Barbara Comstock (R-Va.) and democratic challenger Jennifer Wexton. The republican reign of Virginia’s 10th congressional district has lasted for a prolonged 38 years, and the dissatisfaction with President Trump means that turning VA-10 blue to give the House a democratic majority is a primary goal for many democrats in VA-10.
This past weekend, Wexton and Comstock had their very first debate preceding the November 6th election, and the most dramatic difference between Wexton and Comstock were their opinions on Trump’s tax bill. Wexton argued against the bill for fear of the taxes impacting the large and sprawling affluent neighborhoods across VA-10, whereas Comstock stuck by her opinion that the tax bill would result in a surplus for Virginia, despite the discrepancies in the model and reality.
Another grievance of the incumbent, Comstock, is that she refuses to appear at town-halls, which I have personal experience with. After my participation in the March For Our Lives rally in Washington, D.C., in March, my community held a town hall meeting where the democratic candidates spoke out about the importance of gun regulation across the United States, and every single seat of the candidates vying for the spot to compete against Comstock was filled, but Comstock’s seat was jarringly empty. Even after multiple gun violence threats have affected VA-10, our representative has remained silent and has taken no public action to express her interest and opinions about the issue which is especially disconcerting because of the many loopholes that Virginia has for gun regulations.
Overall, the tension surrounding this congressional election is unprecedented for the area affected by the election: there has never been a better reason to register to vote or to sign up for the absentee ballot that you may have forgotten about. Even if you are not a resident of VA-10, it is still imperative that registering to vote is a priority in your world – there are so many people out there that have no voice in an election that alienates them; it’s up to you to speak up against the wrongdoings that may not personally affect you but affect our community of respect in the United States of America.