Quietly, Virginia is already voting for candidates looking for their party’s nomination at the end of our 45-day-long “voting season” on Aug. 4. This was that “temporary” measure designed to protect you from COVID-19 that now gets treated as if Abraham Lincoln himself had the idea turned into law.
In any event, voting in the Virginia primaries has begun, and one of the races that hasn’t received a lot of coverage yet is the race to see who will be the GOP Senate nominee to run against Mark Warner in November.
Friday, June 26, the Family Foundation, in conjunction with the City Elders of Virginia, held a debate in Staunton between the three candidates for the nomination: David Williams, Kim Farington, and Bert Mizusawa. It was moderated flawlessly by former Virginia Delegate Chris Saxman, who started the organization Virginia FREE.
The candidates all answered questions about various issues facing Commonwealth voters. Let’s focus on two: affordability and the SAVE America Act.
Affordability
The candidates were asked about affordability, housing, and what they would do to restore young people’s faith in “the system.”
David Williams: “It goes back to taxes. As you said correctly, the youth are really the ones that are suffering. Right there in Northern Virginia, most of them can’t afford to live in Northern Virginia, and I think that’s the issue here as well. They’re having to move out because of high housing prices that are rising. And so what we have to do is, once again, it goes back to cutting the out-of-control spending that’s coming out of Richmond. Fifty-one different tax cuts or tax hikes on everything across the board. And so we have to get those taxes down so that these young folks have a little bit more money in their pockets.
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“And then also, at the federal level, we could look at extending and making permanent the child tax cuts. And that’s going to be important. That’s going to help relieve a little bit of stress on the youth.”
Kim Farington: “I was very fortunate in that I was able to buy my first house when I was much younger than what the current average age is of around 40. And I think it’s important that we really look out for those first-time homebuyers. And I think an easy fix is to make sure that we don’t allow these large-volume corporations to buy a whole bunch of houses. And then they raise, because they get the volume discount, and then they raise the taxes or the price of the homes. And that outpaces the amount of money that these first-time homebuyers have to be able to afford that first home.
“So, if we don’t allow the volume discounts, and we don’t allow these big-box companies, big corporations, to sell those houses at such a profit, we can get more young generations into their first home, and all residents into their first home sooner.”
Bert Mizusawa: “First of all, everybody has their own affordability problems. It depends on what your personal expenses are. And they’re different for the younger generations and the older generations. But one thing that is common is housing. And one thing specific that I would do is I would basically increase the capital gain exclusion on a sale of a principal residence.
“Because my generation has basically bought a lot of real estate, and we are limited to a $250,000 capital gain exclusion if you’re single, $500,000 if you’re married. But that was the amount set back in the ’90s, and it has not been indexed to inflation. If we indexed to inflation, we would double the exclusion. I think we’d have a lot more of the older generation selling their homes, and it would decrease the prices and make housing much more available for our younger generations. And that would take care of the larger expense. So that’s one specific thing that I would do.”
The SAVE America Act
One question they were asked is the one that’s dogging Congress right now, and that’s about an issue enjoying 80% support among all voters, including 70% support among Democrat voters: the SAVE America Act.
The candidates agreed that the law that would ensure only American citizens vote in American elections must be passed.
Mizusawa: “Yes, I would actually ask [Majority Leader] John Thune to change the Senate rules, get rid of the filibuster. The SAVE America Act is so essential for a democracy. We need to get that through. And then if he can change the rules back, fine. But let’s get that through. Let’s get all the black-and-white issues passed. So, I’m a big proponent of doing that.”
Williams: “Absolutely, we have to support that. This is the crossroads that we face here in America. That is why President [Donald] Trump has been a top priority for him, to make sure that he pushes that through.
“And if you look at where our country is going and how they are trying to bring socialist-type ideology into what we are in America, that should scare you. And that should cause you to get out and make sure that we get people out to vote, because they’re not playing with the rules anymore. Why would you need your ID to go to vote? Why would you need to show that you’re an American citizen?
“So, ask yourself these things and then understand what we are up against right now, because they’re not making policies. What they are looking at doing is, like I said, changing the culture, changing the fabric of America, and we cannot let that happen.”
Farington: “I’ve seen it both ways. Whether you call it the Save America Act or the SAVE Act, it is so important to us that we get it passed. And I’m concerned why it’s taking so long to get it passed, considering its voter data integrity that we’re talking about here, the fundamental foundation of this country. And so, I would definitely vote for it.
“And what I would also recommend is, since it is having trouble getting through and getting passed, let’s break it down. And let’s have Congress and the Senate start focusing on the different aspects of the SAVE Act, Save America Act, so we can start to make progress toward that voter integrity that we need in this country that we all know exists. We even have New York City asking for two IDs, just to clear the snow on the streets. We should have that across America. Voter ID, let’s vote for Save America Act and SAVE Act.”
At the end of the two-hour-long program, which you can watch here, the audience was asked to take part in a straw poll. A spokesperson for the organizers said we will know the results on Wednesday, July 1.
In the meantime, take a look at the forum when you have a chance and email me with who you thought did the best: [email protected].
We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of the Daily Signal.
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