Pictured from left are District 10 congressional candidates, Republican Mike Clancy and Democrat Suhas Subramanyam. (Images courtesy of the respective campaigns)

State Sen. Suhas Subramanyam, D-Loudoun, and GOP candidate Mike Clancy are vying to represent Virginia’s 10th Congressional District and replace Democratic U.S. Rep. Jennifer Wexton, who is outgoing after being diagnosed with a serious neurological disease.

Subramanyam opposes Project 2025 — a proposed conservative plan to change the way the federal government works — and has said it is a key issue in his race. His campaign prioritizes the cost of living and the economy.

Clancy said he doesn’t support the bill but sees a path forward by focusing on areas important to voters, namely the economy, parental rights and public safety.

District 10

Over the last three congressional elections, Democrats have maintained control of the district even after it was redrawn to include Loudoun, Fauquier and Rappahannock counties, the cities of Manassas, Manassas Park and parts of Prince William and Fairfax counties.

Wexton, who has represented the district in the U.S. Congress since 2019, won her first two races by at least 12 percentage points in 2018 and 2020. However, in her last election in 2022, she narrowly won the newly drawn district by six percentage points to Republican candidate Hung Cao, who is currently running for the US Senate.

After serving three consecutive terms in Congress and announcing her decision not to seek re-election, Wexton endorsed Subramanyam over several Democratic primary candidates hoping to succeed her. If elected, Subramanyam said he wants to continue Wexton’s work by advocating for federal funding – potentially in the Appropriations Committee – for infrastructure projects and keeping the federal government open to avoid shutdowns that will impact federal government employees.

“Jennifer Wexton has been a leader in pushing for anti-shutdown legislation, speaking out, and supporting federal workers and contractors, and I want to continue this work because it’s important to our community and that’s what makes us so special,” said Subramanyam .

He added that the federal government should allocate more resources to District 10 to keep it operating because of the many civil servants who live and work there.

If elected, Clancy will be the first Republican to hold the position since Wexton unseated former Rep. Barbara Comstock, who replaced longtime Rep. Frank Wolf. Wolf endorsed Clancy.

“He was solution-oriented, and that’s who I want to be,” Clancy said of Wolf. “(I) want to make sure that we represent the people of our 10th district by doing what’s right for the people.” Like Wolf, Clancy added that he is “very focused on human rights issues.”

Project 2025 and federal employees

More than 34,000 federal government employees and contractors live in the 10th district, according to a Sept. 23 report. report by the Congressional Research Service. There are growing concerns among residents and government workers about the impact of the recommendations outlined in Project 2025 if implemented by a Republican presidential administration, particularly the proposal to replace federal employees with political appointees.

Members of the American Federation, the nation’s largest federal workers’ union, wrote that such a proposal would have a negative impact on workers.

“This is an unconstitutional and unconstitutional takeover of our federal government that has no interest in listening to citizens and will force employees to follow orders, legal or not, or be fired,” AFGE President Everett Kelley said in: Statement from July.

Clancy, a technology executive and lawyer, told The Mercury that he rejects the project’s proposal to federal government employees, refuting claims by his opponent and some media outlets that he has ties to the Heritage Foundation. This conservative think tank published Project 2025.

“I want to create jobs in District 10, not reduce them,” Clancy said. “And here in Northern Virginia, in our district, a key component of the labor market is not only federal government employees, but also government contractors, and that is an important constituency that we are trying to promote.”

Clancy has admitted to making donations to the organization in the past, but said he is not a member of the Heritage Foundation, despite Newsmax’s announcement website stating that he is a member. He calls Subramanyam’s attempt to link him to Project 2025 and the Heritage Foundation a way to “distract” voters from the “failed” decisions made by the Biden-Harris administration on the economy, border security, fentanyl and a “weak” foreign policy that has led to two wars.

“Aside from a small donation to the Heritage Foundation a few years ago, I have never had any ‘connection’ with the Heritage Foundation,” Clancy said in a statement. “I have never worked with Heritage or attended any of their events. I have no connection with Project 2025. I had never heard of Project 2025 until Democrats started fearmongering about it. I do not support and have never supported Project 2025.”

Subramanyam, a former technology policy adviser to former President Barack Obama, said Project 2025 would be a “complete disaster” for the 10th District if implemented by affecting companies that depend on customers, who are likely to be federal government employees and contractors.

“It’s going to affect everyone, and at a time when people are worried about the economy and rising costs and their ability to pay for things like housing, child care and prescription drugs, we don’t need a self-imposed recession,” Subramanyam said.

Parental rights

In District 10, parents do questioned local school divisions and boards and cited concerns about how schools operate, including what is taught and what students learn. Like other parts of the state, schools in the 10th District are struggling lawsuits and parent confrontations over controversial social issues such as the types of books allowed in libraries and the treatment of transgender students.

Clancy said he supports parental rights, which is the legal authority of parents to make decisions about their child’s care and education. He stated that he also understands that Project 2025 may coincide with his views, especially in the area education by supporting school choice, or the idea that parents should be able to use tax dollars earmarked for their child’s public education and send them to the private or charter school of their choice.

“It shouldn’t just be for the rich,” Clancy said. “We should be able to empower middle- and low-income parents to ensure they have school choice.”

He also claimed that his opponent voted against the interests of parents and children during his time in the Virginia House of Delegates, pointing out legislation requiring schools to notify parents about sexually explicit instructional materials in school libraries, which Subramanyam opposed.

One of the books under consideration was “Beloved” by author Toni Morrison, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in Literature for it.

“I support Virginia’s current law; the fundamental right of parents to be involved in their children’s education,” Subramanyam said in response. “I am the father of two daughters and being an involved parent is important to me.”

Cost of living

Both candidates have said they are committed to addressing inflation among Virginians in District 10.

According to data provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics to the Senate Joint Economic Committee in Augustas of January 2021, the average Virginia household spent $30,688 more per year due to inflation. Clancy and local Republicans they said Subramanyam’s votes against the tax cuts cost Virginians.

Subramanyam denied this and said Democrats had done “a lot” to ensure Virginia had a “fair tax system.”

“I have not increased income taxes since entering the General Assembly, and I do not plan to increase the personal income tax in Congress,” he said, adding that he would like to find a way to lower taxes for middle-class people. and continued his work, addressing rising costs and stimulating the economy.

Clancy reported Subramanyam’s votes, including one against him draft law on tax relief in 2023, they will show that the state senator does not represent the entire electoral district of the 10th District. The GOP nominee said he hopes to support district voters by revitalizing the economy and minimizing President Joe Biden’s spending, curbing inflation through “American innovation, American energy production” and rescuing “small businesses from burdensome and stifling regulatory burdens.”

Following the Mercury interview, Subramanyam’s campaign officials said the then-delegate had ultimately voted supported the introduction of tax relief provisions in the budget, which included tax cuts worth over $1 billion.

The relief package provided an immediate tax credit of $200 for individual filers, $400 for families and joint filers, and increased the standard deduction to $8,500 for individual filers and $17,000 for families and joint filers.

“My opponent is wrong – I supported family tax credits in the General Assembly and worked to do so in a bipartisan way, including the version of the very proposal my opponent cites,” Subramanyam said.

Immigration

Immigrants often come to the United States to leave unfavorable conditions in their home countries and seek safer living conditions and employment opportunities. Although migrants have become the backbone of the nation’s workforce, immigration has sparked a backlash among some Americans concerned about migrants entering the country illegally and obtaining rights and benefits without being a U.S. citizen.

Clancy and Subramanyam agree that something needs to be done to address the challenges posed by immigration.

Clancy said that if elected, he would advocate for “strong border security” legislation that would target sanctuary cities and legally authorize local governments to cooperate with federal agencies and law enforcement.

Subramanyam said Republicans had a chance to address immigration but did nothing.

Earlier this year, the state senator told the Mercury that the US immigration system is “broken” and supports the country taking a comprehensive approach to the problem. He said one step starts with securing the border and ensuring that people “doing the right things the right way and contributing to our economy” have a path to citizenship.

He said the country also needs to fix its “broken” asylum system.

Visit the Virginia Mercury’s voter guide to see what congressional candidates have to say about other key issues, including abortion, education, inflation, immigration and more.

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