See below for a press release from the Beth Macy for U.S. House (VA06) campaign. I’d just point out that Macy would make an *infinitely* better representative for the people of VA06 than their current clown of a Congressman, Ben Cline (R-VA06). And no, that was NOT meant as a backhanded compliment to Beth Macy; she’s make a fine member of Congress regardles of who she were running against, but unlike Ben Cline, who couldn’t care less about his constituents and ONLY cares about his own power, licking Trump’s boots, etc., Macy has – as she says in her press release – ” had a long career of fighting for underdogs in nearly 40 years as a reporter and author.” What has Ben Cline ever done for the people of VA06, other than to make their lives worse? Uhhh…
BETH MACY’S OUTREACH TO RURAL VOTERS FEATURED IN THE NEW YORK TIMES
ROANOKE — Beth Macy’s campaign to attract rural voters, veterans and farmers hurt by the policies of Donald Trump and Ben Cline is earning national attention. Macy’s rural outreach, specifically to farmers, was profiled in a New York Times July 14, 2026 news story that displayed her distinctive ability to bridge gaps between Democrats and Republicans.
Macy, the Democratic candidate for the House of Representatives in Virginia’s 6th District, told farmers in Augusta County that she understands their plight.
As the Times reported:
Now running as a Democrat in the kind of House district she says she is uniquely qualified to reach, she recited the 4-H pledge from memory — “I pledge my head to clearer thinking, my heart to greater loyalty, my hands to larger service” — before about 25 farmers and three goats in a barn in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. A giant fan tried in vain to blow off the 100-degree heat.
“Wouldn’t it be nice if we had some of that pledge coming out of Washington?” Ms. Macy asked as some in the crowd nodded.
Many of the farmers that Macy met in Augusta and Page counties earlier this month have borne the brunt of higher costs brought about by Trump’s reckless trade policies and his unpopular war. Macy told farmers that she will have their backs, will restore the farm safety net, and pass bills to reduce costs for farmers and make it easier for young people to get into the farming business.
According to the Times:
Rural voters have been President Trump’s most enduring supporters, but they have edged away from him as the Iran War has spiked prices of diesel and fertilizer. Tariff wars have made it harder for farmers to sell their products, and rural families depend especially heavily on the Affordable Care Act subsidies that were cut in the president’s signature spending and tax-cut law last summer.
Macy has had a long career of fighting for underdogs in nearly 40 years as a reporter and author. Her bestselling books Dopesick and Factory Man took on powerful corporate and government forces that hurt regular folks, and she held Big Pharma to account for its role in the opioid crisis.
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Beth Macy has spent her career holding truth to power. She grew up poor in a small Ohio town, became the first in her family to graduate from college, and built her adult life in Roanoke, Va., where she and her husband, Tom, raised their two children. For 25 years at The Roanoke Times, Beth covered the stories of people and communities across Western Virginia—listening without judgment and digging for the truth, even when it was uncomfortable.
She’s spent her career highlighting how the system has devolved to benefit billionaires over working families. She has listened to, grieved with and advocated alongside parents who lost children to addiction, workers whose jobs disappeared, and communities forced to fight for basic services that include childcare, healthcare and mental health treatment. She has watched families across the 6th District work harder than ever while falling further behind, as the people in power have become more beholden to corporations and the ultra-wealthy than to the communities that elected them. Now she’s running for Congress to make life affordable for working families, expand access to health care and ensure every child has a real chance at a better future.
Learn more about Beth’s campaign at www.bethmacyforcongress.com.
