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Three Democrats are vying for their party’s nomination in the June 18 primary elections in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District to take on Rep. Bob Good, R-Campbell County, the incumbent, who faces his own primary challenge by state Sen. John McGuire, R-Goochland.
The three Democratic candidates, Paul Riley, Gary Terry, and Gloria Witt, met at a candidate forum in Danville on Thursday evening to discuss their backgrounds and legislative priorities and generally agreed on the issues. They also talked about how they’d run in November against a GOP candidate in a heavily Republican district.
About 30 people attended the event, held at Danville Community College. Candidates each got two minutes to answer the same seven questions, which were suggested by members of the Danville Democratic Committee and Virginia Democrats.
Both Good and McGuire have largely used their funding to compete against one another, Riley said, adding that this “cannibalism” has depleted their war chests. This will be a good opportunity for whoever wins the Democratic nomination in June, he said, because both Republican candidates will be vulnerable and weakened.
Good is further weakened because he’s “not a Trump acolyte anymore,” Riley said. “And McGuire is weakened because he made a promise when he [ran for the state Senate that he would not run for Congress. Well, he broke that promise, so right there that tells you that he’s a liar, and he’s not trustworthy.”
Terry said that the Democratic nominee will need to go out and talk to people as much as possible. He’s met a lot of Republicans who dislike both Good and McGuire and want an alternative option, he said.
Witt also said that raising awareness is important, encouraging people to post on social media and put signs in their yard to avoid “sleepwalking into a dictatorship” by electing Republican candidates.
The three candidates had similar answers for several of the questions about issues in the district, mentioning the need for improvements in broadband and healthcare in rural areas several times. Gun violence, education and economic growth were topics that continued to crop up.
Addressing these issues across the 5th District will be challenging because of its size and diversity, said moderator Peter Howard, chair of the Danville Democratic Committee.
Terry said he has traveled throughout the district and learned where concerns of the district’s urban residents differ from those of the rural residents.
The Democratic candidates
Paul Riley is an intelligence analyst working for a defense contractor who resides in Crozet. A native of Norwich, N.Y., he moved to Florida as a child, where he graduated from Florida State University in 1989. Riley spent two decades in the U.S. Army, specializing in military intelligence.
Gary Terry is a Kenucky native and a 1982 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. After serving five years in Germany and at Ft. Bliss, Tx., Terry left the military to work first as an engineer for Corning Glass Works and then as a quality and operations manager for the General Electric Lighting Division. He currently resides in Danville, where he has also worked as an executive director for the YMCA and CEO for the Boys and Girls Clubs.
Gloria Witt was born and raised in Amherst County, and according to her campaign website, she describes herself as someone who values “family, faith, education, justice, and community building.” Witt is a businessperson with a 32-year career with global energy leader Framatome (formerly AREVA). She also serves the community as a board member of several organizations, such as the NAACP Amherst Branch (president) and the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities (board member), among others.
“The folks that are in urban areas have talked more about rights being restricted,” Terry said, mentioning voter rights, women’s rights and rights of the LGBTQ community.
In rural areas, he said he hears more often that people need jobs and healthcare.
But the candidates agreed that the region is joined by many commonalities as well, like the desire for economic growth and improvements in education.
And many of these issues overlap, like healthcare and broadband, as telehealth can improve healthcare access in rural areas so long as there is adequate internet service, Terry said.
“These are not standalone issues,” he said. “One issue helps another.”
They also discussed national issues, each decrying the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Witt and Terry also mentioned the need to address gun violence.
“I believe we need to start registering guns and ban assault weapons,” Witt said. “Those weapons were made for military use, so they were designed to shoot humans, not animals. I believe in the second amendment but we do not need assault weapons on the street.”
The candidates briefly discussed international issues as well, sharing their views about the United States’ role in the Middle East.
Each candidate expressed the desire to work across the aisle with Republicans when they can. But in their closing remarks, they all called for a Democratic representative for the 5th District.
“Bob Good has got to go,” Terry said. “Plain and simple.”
Good, who was first elected to Congress in 2020 after defeating the Republican incumbent Denver Riggleman in a party-run convention earlier that year, two years later defeated Democrat Josh Throneburg, the Democratic nominee, with 61% of the vote.
The 5th District, which stretches from Pittsylvania County in the west to Goochland County in the east, leans Republican. Donald Trump won the district with 53% in both 2016 and 2020, and in the 2021 gubernatorial election, Republican Glenn Youngkin defeated Democrat Terry McAuliffe with 60-39.4% of the vote.
