Check out last night’s VA-05 debate (video below), co-hosted by the University of Virginia Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL), College Republicans at UVA, University Democrats at UVA, and the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, and check out how on issue after issue, Republican Denver Riggleman is simply flat-out wrong and Democrat Leslie Cockburn is right.
For instance, asked about the Paris Climate Accord and environmental protection more broadly, Riggleman basically bashed environmental protection authorities and whined about how regulations were harming his business. Pathetic and disqualifying right there. In stark contrast, Cockburn correctly noted that the Trump administration is “eviscerating the Environmental Protection Agency,” that “we have huge environmental issues right now in the 5th; we have two pipelines which are unnecessary for Virginia…these pipelines should be reversed… on climate change issues alone these pipelines will leak…enough methane to be the greenhouse gas equivalent of 46 coal fire plants.” Bingo.
In short, Cockburn “gets it” while Riggleman TOTALLY does not when it comes to the environment. And it goes on like this for issue after issue, from healthcare (Cockburn supports Medicare for All; Riggleman calls Medicare for All a “utopian, pie-in-the-sky idea” and wants to join the extremist, trash-the-Affordable-Care-Act “Freedom Caucus”) to immigration (Cockburn wants comprehensive immigration reform; Riggleman does not) to the influence of corporate money in politics (Riggleman takes money from the Koch brothers – ’nuff said) to the Equal Rights Amendment (she’s for it; Riggleman’s against it) to guns (Riggleman is such a gun extremist that he even opposes bans on bump stocks; Cockburn supports universal background checks and bans on bump stocks)…you get the idea.
Bottom line: on November 6, if you agree with Riggleman’s extreme, out-of-the-mainstream views, then by all means vote for him. If, instead, you agree with Cockburn’s progressive, mainstream, majority views, then definitely vote for her. In other words, this choice is a no-brainer: Cockburn for Congress!
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