You can compare where the candidates in the 5th District stand in our Voter Guide.
Gloria Witt began her run for Virginia’s 5th Congressional District as part of a bigger group.
The race for the Democratic nomination began with five candidates before it was narrowed down to Witt and two others — Gary Terry and Paul Riley.
That part of the race was amicable, Witt said, with the trio often traveling together to events held in the district’s 21 counties and three independent cities (Lynchburg, Danville and Charlottesville).
“We did the circuit together in the primary, and got to know each other and cheered each other on,” Witt said. “It was a great introduction to the field of politics. I don’t think it was normal, but it was normal for us.”
Witt said while there were differences in the candidates’ approaches and messages, she and her opponents knew that the biggest barrier facing Democrats in the district was building enthusiasm among all of their supporters.
“We were all new at this and knew we just needed to get people to hear what we had to say,” Witt said.
Witt dominated in the primary, garnering more than 57% of the votes and winning every county and city in the district.
But the numbers also showed what kind of challenges awaited her in the general election. Less than 25,000 voters opted to participate in the Democratic primary. That was less than half of who voted in the Republican showdown, which was won by State Senator John McGuire.
His journey to the general election had a much different vibe.
He challenged incumbent Bob Good, who as a member of the right-wing House Freedom Caucus helped oust former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy.
In turn, McGuire, who lives in Goochland County and served in Virginia’s House of Delegates before moving over to the Senate, was backed by McCarthy and his allies to run against Good in the Republican primary. He later received the endorsement from former president Donald Trump, after Good decided to support Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
Good switched his support back to Trump once DeSantis dropped out of the race, but Trump did not forgive or forget.
The election, which had more than 62,000 ballots cast, was close, but after a recount — and some implications by Good that vote counting was not entirely on the up-and-up — McGuire was declared the GOP nominee in the Republican-leaning district by less than 400 votes.
Thus began McGuire’s final three-month sprint toward the House of Representatives.
Other than an Oct. 17 debate held at Hampden-Sydney College, the two candidates have kept to themselves, working to be elected to a district that was represented only by Democrats in the 20th century, but has been held by Republicans for all of this century, minus 2 years (Tom Perriello) and 27 days (Virgil Goode).
According to campaign finance records gathered by The Hill, McGuire has an overwhelming advantage in both contributions and money spent. No public polls have been taken in the district, but McGuire is also considered a solid favorite by most election-related outlets.
John McGuire: Running on Trump’s coattails
McGuire, a former Navy SEAL, has no qualms about continuing to ride on Trump’s coattails as he works into the final week of his campaign.
His official campaign page leads off with one of the former president’s best-known campaign slogans — America First — and McGuire also labels himself as “Pro-Life. Pro-Gun. Pro-Trump.”
When he participated earlier this month in his lone debate with Witt, McGuire said he believes the country’s only hope to reverse what he sees as a lack of leadership and poor policy is to have a Republican majority in both houses of Congress and in the executive branch.
“We need leadership,” he said. “If we don’t get Trump back in the White House, if we don’t get Hung Cao into the Senate, and God-willing, I’m your congressman, I don’t think Americans can take four more years of these America-last policies.”
At the debate, McGuire addressed a question about his attendance of Trump’s Jan. 6, 2021 rally, which preceded the disruption of the joint session of Congress set up to certify the 2020 presidential election. He said that he left Washington following Trump’s rally and did not know about what happened next until he got home later in the day.
He also declined to give an unqualified yes when asked if he would accept the results of the 2024 election and also implied that the COVID-19 pandemic was possibly a ploy by anti-Trump groups to steal the 2020 election.
“If you think about it, we had this pandemic — some people called it a “plan-demic,'” he said. “Under the guise of the ‘plan-demic’ or pandemic, they came up with election season in Virginia. Not Election Day, but 45 days.
“… They changed the rules, but if it was only for the pandemic, then they should have changed the rules back afterward, but they didn’t. So let’s see how the election goes. If it’s fair, then I’ll support it.”
McGuire also touted his ability to introduce bipartisan legislation within the Virginia legislature.
“Every year for 6 years, I’ve passed bills where every single Democrat and every single Republican voted yes,” he said.
He highlighted a law that allowed substitute teachers who work for multiple school districts in Virginia to no longer need to pay to have background checks done by every district they apply to work.
He added that veteran benefits and energy issues would be places where he sees both parties in Congress coming together.
Both candidates have grown up within the district and have modest backgrounds.
McGuire grew up in Central Virginia and spent part of his childhood in foster care before custody was given to his grandparents. He is a Liberty University graduate and started a boot camp-style fitness business after his discharge from the military. He also recovered from a life-threatening spinal injury that threatened his ability to walk.
“It took me about a year to walk,” he said. “I believe God gave me a second chance.”
Witt grew up on a farm in Amherst County and says she regularly refers to herself as a “country girl.” She attended school at Randolph College and has worked and lived in Lynchburg ever since.
When McGuire speaks about his America-first platform, he echoes much of what Trump has said. This includes:
- An aggressive new border policy, which includes mass deportation of current immigrants who have arrived in the country illegally and a major increase in border security, especially with Mexico. “I have no problem with immigration, but it should be legal immigration,” he said. “And we should not be bringing people into our country that do not want to speak the language and integrate and don’t love our country.”
- He believes that it is time for the U.S. and NATO to end their support of Ukraine in its war with Russia. He has implied at times that the money being spent in defense of Ukraine should be used on those in need back home.
- McGuire, however, gives his full support to Israel in its current conflict with Hamas and other anti-Israeli countries and terrorist groups. He rejects any kind of U.S.-sponsored cease-fire plans unless it has the full support of Israel.
- And, during his debate with Witt, he spoke of what he called family values, believing that laws that have protected LGBTQ rights, including gay marriage, should be reconsidered. He is also a staunch supporter of anti-abortion groups and would like to see Virginia’s current abortion laws become more restrictive.
Gloria Witt: ‘I lift people up’
Witt’s list of priorities if elected included five categories, leading off with upholding democracy. She wants to see the John Lewis Voting Act, a Democrat-endorsed bill that would restore some of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that were struck down by the Supreme Court a decade ago, passed and also believes there need to be laws to protect some individual freedoms she fears would be lost if the Republicans gain power in both houses.
She believes her professional experience, which included a 32-year career with nuclear energy company Framatome and a nonprofit company she has founded called Define Success Coaching, makes her a viable candidate for a Congress that is in need of collaborators and people willing to listen to different views of what the country needs.
All of her platform issues, she says, are based on four basic pillars: Faith, family, justice and community.
“I truly want to be the voice that protects democracy, advances justice and restores hope and opportunity through economic growth for the entire district. I care about people, I lift people up and I am the voice that I think Congress needs.”
Her other categories include:
- Strengthening families. She said this pertains to subjects such as allowing women, not court orders, to prevail over reproductive decisions, as well as improving access to basic health care, preserving Social Security, Medicare and national health care, and making affordable child care and housing more available.
“It’s about living with dignity,” she said. “It’s about having the right to affordable health care, and the whole idea of women’s reproductive rights. … As I’ve moved around the district, what I’ve found is that [women’s reproductive rights] was hijacked by another right that we have — religious freedom. This country is built on religious freedom, and somehow the MAGA right and its extremism hijacked our religion and created this conversation through the Supreme Court and redefined when personhood starts.”
- Rethinking education. Witt has spoken regularly about increasing vocational education opportunities for high school graduates who may want to do something besides go on to college. She also wants to see better financial and developmental support for teachers.
- Spur smart economic growth. While McGuire believes the American energy policy should remain focused on fossil fuels and increasing domestic production of oil, Witt believes it’s important for the environment to continue working toward renewable types of energy and reducing the need of carbon-releasing fuels. She also wants the rural parts of Central Virginia to get more attention in the areas of farm-production aid, higher wages and increased broadband and other infrastructure upgrades.
- Finally, Witt is at odds with McGuire when it comes to addressing gun violence. While McGuire, who spoke several times during their debate about needing more support for police and expressing that much of the violence big cities are facing is due to activities of illegal immigrants, Witt believes in what she called “common sense legislation,” including better background check laws, a ban on assault weapons and better laws to ensure that unused firearms are safely stored away from children.
“For me, the gun violence piece has evolved into a health issue for young people,” she said. “More young people are dying from gun violence than any other thing. Doctors have elevated it to a health-care issue.”
