This week, we invited the candidates running for local office in the Nov. 5 General Election to write a post about why Arlington residents should vote for them. Find information on how and where to vote here.
Below is the unedited response from Rep. Don Beyer, who is running for reelection to the House of Representatives – 8th District as a Democrat. It is posting late after it was discovered to have been submitted before our deadline, but erroneously marked as spam by Gmail.
My name is Don Beyer, and I have served as your representative in Congress since 2015. I am seeking reelection and your vote in the 2024 Presidential election on November 5th.
I have dedicated myself to advocating for the needs of our Northern Virginia community, and I am proud of the progress we have made. Thanks to legislation championed by Democrats in Congress and the Biden-Harris administration, we have the strongest economy in the world, we lowered costs for working families, and we made historic progress in addressing the climate crisis.
We have built a strong and robust American economy that has exceeded even pre-pandemic growth predictions. Inflation has just fallen to its lowest level in three years, wages are rising faster than inflation, job growth has surged at a record pace with more than 16 million new jobs created, and our economy continues to pull ahead of the rest of the world’s advanced economies.
Thanks to our Inflation Reduction Act, millions of Americans now benefit from lower prescription drug costs, including a $35-per-month cap on insulin. It has also helped millions of Americans purchase more energy-efficient appliances and home energy systems. Our expanded Child Tax Credit has helped working families cover the costs of their most important expenses and saw child poverty in the United States hit an all-time low—until Republicans let it expire.
We have also taken significant and historic action to protect our environment and combat the climate crisis. Our whole-of-government approach included game-changing investments in the clean energy sector through the Inflation Reduction Act. We’ve restored American jobs, lowered energy costs for working families, and established ourselves as a global leader in the clean energy sector.
We also enacted the first major gun violence prevention legislation in nearly 30 years, which includes a key measure that I helped draft to support the implementation of “red flag” laws. I voted for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which is funding transportation improvements in our region. I continue to help thousands of constituents get assistance from federal agencies and have secured millions in federal funding for local projects supporting affordable housing, climate resilience, and more.
We should build on this progress, not turn the clock back—which is exactly what Donald Trump’s and Republicans’ Project 2025 intends to do.
Project 2025 threatens the employment of over 140,000 federal employees in Virginia, including more than 76,000 in the 8th Congressional District alone. It calls for more tax cuts for the wealthiest among us, while middle-class families would foot the bill for Trump’s proposed tariffs on imported goods. It targets the Medicare and Social Security benefits millions of Americans rely on. It seeks to ban abortion nationwide and restrict access to birth control, making it impossible for women to access the reproductive care they need. It would also repeal the critical health reforms Democrats secured through the Inflation Reduction Act and raise the costs of prescription drugs for nearly 1.5 million Medicare-eligible Virginians.
Donald Trump’s and Republicans’ nihilistic positions are dangerous for the country. I will continue to oppose them and, instead, build on the progress we have made.
There is still much work to be done. In the next Congress, I look forward to enacting federal legislation to protect abortion access, restoring and expanding the Child Tax Credit to alleviate child poverty, and enacting key measures to lower housing costs for renters and prospective homebuyers. I will also keep pushing for more legislation to prevent gun violence, and advance bills to enact universal paid leave, bring down the costs of health care and childcare, and raise the minimum wage.
I humbly ask for your vote on Tuesday, November 5th, to build on the progress we have made. If you have questions, please visit www.friendsofdonbeyer.com. Regardless of whom you support, I encourage everyone to vote, and I thank all who are doing their civic duty by participating in our democracy.
