Local state Senate and House of Delegates candidates hewed to party positions on abortion, parental rights and the Dillon Rule during a Sept. 27 candidate forum at the Great Falls Grange, but took more nuanced stances on matters affecting local communities.
Hosted by the Great Falls Citizens Association (GFCA) and moderated by the group’s vice president, Richard Solano, the forum posed the same questions to all four candidates in between their opening and closing remarks.
In the state Senate race, Sen. Jennifer Boysko (D) is running against Republican Matthew Lang in the newly reconstituted and renamed 38th District.
Boysko, who was elected to the former 33rd District in 2019, cited her experience and record both in the state Senate and previously in the House of Delegates. A Herndon resident and former staffer of Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust (D), she said she focuses on creating “an economy that works for everyone.”
Lang cited his long career in protecting others, whether as a U.S. Marine or as a deputy sheriff in Fairfax and Loudoun counties. The Reston resident now works as a security consultant for an international aid group that operates in developing countries.
In the contest for the new 6th District in the House of Delegates, Del. Rip Sullivan (D), who currently represents parts of McLean and Arlington, is competing against Republican challenger Kristin Hoffman.
A lawyer and longtime McLean resident, Sullivan first was elected to the House of Delegates in a 2014 special election. Providing constituent service is the best part of his job, he said.
Hoffman, who lives in the Vienna area, spent her career in the technology field. She said she is running for the House of Delegates to “bring civility back to the dialogue within government.” Disappointed by the COVID pandemic response, she said the government needed “people from diverse backgrounds to ask the right questions.”
Moderator Solano led off with a decidedly local question: Would the candidates oppose the Virginia Department of Transportation’s plans to replace one-lane bridges on Springvale and Walker roads with two-lane spans.
Hoffman, Sullivan and Lang favored the one-lane bridges, while Boysko supported slowing down the process and doing safety studies.
Regarding a question on transportation priorities, Boysko said the state’s new Smart Scale program, which prioritizes projects based on safety and congestion relief, is working well. Sullivan favored guarding and growing transportation funds and ensuring they were spent on the right projects.
Lang also supported examining where transportation moneys would have the greatest impact, while Hoffman favored obtaining more funds for Northern Virginia projects and promoting transportation alternatives, such as mass transit, teleworking and more use of roundabouts.
Queried on the desirability of switching state employees from pensions to 401 (K) accounts, Sullivan said the Virginia Retirement System already does a mix of both retirement-fund options. Hoffman said changing to 401 (K)s should be accompanied by financial education, while both Lang and Boysko were pension supporters.
Asked whether they favored giving more power to local governments, which under the Dillon Rule must ask the General Assembly for permission to conduct many activities, Lang and Hoffman supported the current arrangement. Lang opposed what he viewed as unreasonable local regulations on firearms, while Hoffman favored streamlining government to make it less bureaucratic.
Boysko said the Dillon Rule sometimes went too far, but the state needed consistency on basic needs such as road safety and public schools. Sullivan said savvy legislators regularly loosen state authority at the behest of localities.
All four candidates supported environmental efforts. Hoffman urged caution when placing solar panels, so as not to aggravate farmers, while Sullivan said some communities have found solar facilities to be “godsends.” Lang favored an all-of-the-above energy policy and Boysko said a more extensive charging network is important in the push for more electric vehicles.
The forum reached its most vehement point following a question about the need to notify parents if students had changed their pronouns or made other gender-related decisions at school.
Boysko said transgender students are at greater risk of suicide and self-harm and that society was “obligated to treat every child with dignity and respect.”
Sullivan received loud applause after saying every family was different and that it was “inappropriate to legislate the relationship between parents and their child.”
Lang disagreed, saying parents needed to know what their child is going through.
“Err on the side of caution and let parents know what’s going on,” he said, which brought even louder clapping from the crowd.
Moderator Solano attempted to reinforce the audience’s ground rule against vocal demonstrations after candidates’ remarks (a stipulation that often falls by the wayside quickly in such forums), but the crowd clamored back that he had not voiced such objections after the response to Sullivan’s comments.
Hoffman batted cleanup on the question and said schools should not keep such matters secret from parents.
The candidates found more unity regarding placement of mental-health and drug-treatment facilities in neighborhoods. All cited the necessity of such services, but said public input was necessary to avoid harming communities.
The candidates all also expressed reservations about implementing speed-monitoring cameras, citing technical glitches.
The office seekers took their respective party’s positions on abortion. Republicans Hoffman and Lang supported Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s proposed ban on abortions past 15 weeks in a pregnancy, except in cases involving rape, incest or danger to the mother’s life. The Democratic candidates favored abortion rights, with Boysko saying tightened restrictions elsewhere in the nation were endangering women’s lives and Sullivan adding that abortion is health care and “every pregnancy is different.”
All 100 House of Delegates and 40 state Senate seats are up for grabs this fall. Early voting already has begun, but those who like the collegiality and tradition of voting in person on Election Day may do so Nov. 7.
