(C) Virginia Mercury This story was originally published by Virginia Mercury and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . House District 21 race: Republican Stirrup vs. Democrat Thomas [1] ['Nathaniel Cline', 'More From Author', '- October'] Date: 2023-10-11 With all 140 seats in the Virginia House of Delegates and Senate up for election this November and an unusual amount of turnover due to redistricting and retirements, the Mercury is profiling some of the season’s most closely contested races. Are you interested in a particular race? Let us know at [email protected] In the closely watched House District 21 race in Northern Virginia, Republican John Stirrup is campaigning on improving public safety, while Democrat Josh Thomas is hoping his opponent’s views on abortion will win him the seat. The already tight race came under the spotlight this August when the Washington Post released a recording of Stirrup, a former Prince William County supervisor, stating his support for banning abortion in Virginia. “I would support a 100% ban,” said Stirrup in the recording obtained by The Washington Post. Thomas, a former Marine, has repeatedly pointed to Stirrup’s views on abortion in his campaign, calling him “a MAGA extremist focused on taking away women’s rights” in his first television ad. With all 140 seats in the Virginia House of Delegates and Senate up for election this November and an unusual amount of turnover due to redistricting and retirements, the Mercury is profiling some of the season’s most closely contested races. Are you interested in a particular race? Let us know at [email protected] Stirrup did not respond to multiple interview requests for this story. Thomas told the Mercury he believes that Virginia should maintain its current laws on abortion. Those laws allow the procedure with few restrictions during the first and second trimesters and permit it during the third if three doctors determine continuing the pregnancy would threaten the life or health of the mother. Virginia Republicans have sought to change that, largely coalescing around a proposal backed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin that would limit abortion after 15 weeks with exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother. “I think women should have the same rights at the end of this decade that [they] started the decade with,” Thomas said. “While I might have religious views, or somebody else might have religious views, it’s someone else’s right to make that decision, and that’s what our law currently reflects, and I want to keep it that way.” Public safety Stirrup, meanwhile, has largely focused his campaign on concerns about increased crime. “Crime was never as high as it is now,” Stirrup said in an interview with The Spirit of VMI, a political action committee of alumni and people connected to the Virginia Military Institute. In that discussion, he argued increases are due to the county prosecutor not indicting as many people compared to the past and Prince William’s elimination of an agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Democratic views on defunding the police, which he claimed have caused a rift with law enforcement. Stirrup said it was not “a coincidence that crime has skyrocketed up 70%.” According to police data reported by InsideNoVa, crime reached a seven-year high in 2022, although it remains well below levels seen a decade prior. Democratic Prince William Commonwealth’s Attorney Amy Ashworth has called the 70% figure inaccurate. “We have a very low crime rate for our population size,” Ashworth argued during a debate according to The Prince William Times. “We are 10 percentage points below the state average.” Stirrup told InsideNoVa earlier this year that he supports additional funding for law enforcement and opposes “catch and release” policies that allow agencies to release migrants after an arrest. “Prince William County is not as safe as it used to be,” Stirrup said in a campaign ad. Thomas agreed voters are concerned about public safety, in particular the increase in petty crimes. He said one way to address the increase is to fully staff the county’s police department, which is “critical to public safety.” “Sadly, many of our Prince William County police officers’ needs are not being met, which is why I support their right to collectively bargain and push for reforms that will attract more folks to jobs in law enforcement,” Thomas said. He said he supports addressing public safety through gun control measures that are already in place, such as background checks and red flag laws, which allow temporary confiscation of a person’s firearm if they are considered a risk to themselves and others. He said he would also support waiting periods between the purchase and receipt of guns. Data center development Local conflicts over data centers in Northern Virginia have also crept into this year’s election. Both Stirrup and Thomas have opposed the Digital Gateway data center development project, which critics say will have unacceptable visual and noise impacts on Manassas National Battlefield Park. “Data centers have no place outside of our industrial areas,” Thomas said, noting he supported legislation last session from Del. Danica Roem, D-Manassas, that would have required the state to regulate stormwater from data center sites. “I think the state has a vested interest — when we’re talking about such a large parcel — of how that can affect neighboring areas,” he said, “and when you have a county doing some of that kind of stuff, the state certainly has an obligation to get involved.” Stirrup said in his interview with the Spirit of VMI that he has heard concerns from voters about “data center overdevelopment in the county.” “Last year I went on many occasions to Richmond with a bipartisan group on buses to talk about where to site these data centers appropriately, not next to a school or a housing development or next to the national battlefield, and also bills about studies, meaning let’s study the impact to the air, water, wildlife, noise, et cetera, prior to the approval,” he said, noting all the bills failed. “I’ve pledged to revisit these should I be elected next year, or serve next year.” However, the Virginia League of Conservation Voters, which endorsed Thomas, has attacked Stirrup in a campaign ad that says he “took thousands from a utility company pushing data centers into our neighborhoods.” The ad cited the Virginia Public Access Project, a nonprofit that tracks campaign finance and elections. The only utility listed as donating to Stirrup over the past year is Dominion Energy, the largest electric utility in the state and a major campaign donor to candidates on both sides of the political spectrum. Thomas pledged he would not accept any campaign donations from utility companies Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power. His largest donor is Clean Virginia, which was founded by Charlottesville millionaire Michael Bills to oppose Dominion’s influence in the General Assembly and has become one of the state’s largest campaign donors. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.virginiamercury.com/2023/10/11/house-district-21-race-republican-stirrup-vs-democrat-thomas/ Published and (C) by Virginia Mercury Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/virginiamercury/