Why are you running for this office?  

I have spent my career in public service working to improve our community by authoring and advancing legislation that improves educational quality and equity, makes health care more affordable, reduces the burden of student debt, makes our workplaces safer, increases wages, reforms our criminal justice system, supports our servicemembers and veterans, protects our environment, and helps build an economy that works for everyone – not just the wealthy and well-connected. I am proud of the work I have already done to advance these issues, but there is still much more to do and that is why I am running for re-election. 

What are your thoughts on the direction of the country?  

Under President Biden and Vice President Harris, our economy has emerged from the global COVID-19 pandemic stronger than that of any of our peer nations. Under the Biden-Harris Administration, our economy has added 15.8 million jobs as of August 2024 – the best job performance of any presidency in a four-year term. We have also reversed a decades-long decline by adding over 1.6 million construction and manufacturing jobs under the Biden-Harris Administration. Wages are growing faster than price increases and inflation continues to come down, but we have more work to do. 

As the top Democrat on the House Education and the Workforce Committee, I will continue to advance legislation that levels the playing field for American workers. We need to pass my Raise the Wage Act to gradually increase the federal minimum wage, which has not been done since 2009 – the longest period in its history without an increase. We must pass my Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act to strengthen collective bargaining rights for workers. And we must pass my Roadmap to College Student Success to improve access to higher education by bringing down the cost to attend college, help all students access a quality degree, and address the student loan crisis.  

Donald Trump and his extreme MAGA Republicans would take our nation in the wrong direction with their Project 2025. The wealthy elite and well-connected would be the only ones to benefit, leaving everyday Americans further behind.  

Are you backing a presidential candidate and if so why are they fit to run for office?   

I am supporting Kamala Harris for president. As a former prosecutor, state attorney general, United States Senator, and Vice President, she is one of the most qualified individuals to ever seek the presidency and has the vision to lead our nation forward.. 

What are your top 2 or 3 priorities if you’re elected/reelected?  

If re-elected and Democrats take the majority in Congress, I hope to regain the gavel as Chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. As Chairman, I will make America’s students, workers, families, and seniors my top priority. I’ll fight to pass the PRO Act to strengthen collective bargaining rights for workers. I’ll work to pass the Raise the Wage Act to increase the federal minimum wage for the first time in 16 years. And I’ll continue to support students, teachers and families by making sure we sustain the historic investments in public K-12 education that I secured in the American Rescue Plan Act the last time I was chairman. I’ll work with President Harris to address the student loan crisis and make sure every student who wants to go to college will be able to do so without crushing debt. And if college isn’t the right path for you, I’ll continue to fight to improve our workforce development and job training system by expanding access to the Pell Grant for short-term, high quality job training programs. And I’ll fight to make sure our seniors have a secure and dignified retirement and work to strengthen and expand Social Security benefits. 

How should Congress address the issue of immigration?  

Earlier this year, President Biden and Vice President Harris brought together Democrats and conservative Republicans to write one of the strongest border security bills in decades. That bill would have given the President new authorities to prevent migrant surges that overwhelm our border.  It would have provided more resources for our border patrol, allowing them to hire an additional 1,500 officers. It would have also reformed the asylum process and provided additional resources for asylum officers to process claims, and immigration judges to handle the 2 million backlog of immigration cases. I didn’t like everything in it, but it was a significant path forward and the first real opportunity to reform our immigration system in decades. Unfortunately, Donald Trump realized that it would have solved many of our immigration problems – making it no longer a good campaign issue for him. Trump put himself ahead of the nation and directed his Republican allies on Capitol Hill to kill it. If elected, I expect a Harris-Walz Administration and a Democratic Congress to pass the bipartisan border security bill. 

How should Congress address climate change?  

In 2022, Congress enacted the most significant federal investment to address the climate crisis ever when we passed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). I was proud to vote for the IRA, which has been a catalyst for clean energy investment in the United States creating high-quality jobs, promoting innovation, and slashing emissions. Provisions from my Offshore Wind Manufacturing Act were included in the IRA and are helping make Hampton Roads a leader in offshore wind. Thanks to those provisions, companies are investing in Hampton Roads, and one of which just announced that it is investing $681 million in Chesapeake to build a state-of-the-art facility to manufacture subsea cables for offshore wind farms. The investments we made in the IRA show that we can work to reduce climate warming emissions while also investing in our economy and creating good paying jobs. It is critical that we build on that foundation and continue to make sure the United States is leading the world in clean energy. 

How should the U.S. approach foreign policy when it comes to Ukraine, the Israel-Hamas war, China and Taiwan relations, etc.?    

It is critical that we provide aid to others fighting the battle for freedom and democracy around the world including Ukraine and Taiwan. Instability in these countries brings us closer to committing U.S. troops to foreign conflicts, which we should avoid. We must help end Vladimir Putin’s war of aggression. We must help end Vladimir Putin’s war of aggression. The failed policy of appeasement that led to World War II offers valuable lessons on what could happen in Europe if our nation turns its back on our democratic allies. And our support for Ukraine against Russia is also a strong deterrent for China and they should think twice before taking any military action against Taiwan. 

I supported the recently enacted legislation to provide aid to Israel. I support the Biden-Harris Administration in their efforts to ensure an immediate ceasefire, bring all the hostages home, put diplomatic pressure on the Netanyahu Government to limit civilian casualties, and ensure that more humanitarian aid reaches Palestinian civilians. This will bolster our efforts for a lasting peace and a two state solution, guarantee the safety and dignity of the Israeli and Palestinian people, as well as prevent a broader war in the region. 

What are you hearing most from voters in your district?   

Voters all around my district are rightly concerned about Trump’s Project 2025. My constituents are concerned about their jobs, their retirement, and the cost of consumer goods, but they know that Trump’s Project 2025 will do nothing to help them and will only hurt working families. They know Project 2025 means more tax cuts for the wealthy and well-connected while the middle-class gets nothing. They don’t want the U.S. Department of Education dismantled, as called for in Project 2025. They don’t want a national abortion ban, a ban on contraception, or a ban on IVF for couples struggling to start a family. They don’t want cuts to Social Security and Medicare, or a repeal of the Affordable Care Act that would end protections for people with pre-existing conditions. 

My constituents know a second Trump presidency is a threat to our democracy. And Trump and his MAGA Republicans will do everything in their power to enact his extreme Project 2025. Voters in my district know they have to stay engaged, organized, and get out to vote. 

What’s an under the radar issue that’s maybe not getting enough attention?  

The consequences of not voting and its impact on the federal judiciary. Elections have consequences and the 2016 election of Donald Trump allowed him and his MAGA Republicans to transform the Supreme Court. Trump appointed three extreme conservative justices to the Supreme Court and hundreds of other conservatives to lower federal courts during his first term. This directly led to the 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health that overturned Roe v. Wade and ended the federal right to abortion care that existed for 50 years. While this has galvanized voters from all walks of life in support of reproductive freedom, we cannot forget that conservative Justices like Clarence Thomas have also called in to question the legitimacy of previous Supreme Court decisions in Obergefell v. Hodges (recognizing same sex marriages) and Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (ending racial segregation in public schools). There is no guarantee this Court will stick with decades of judicial precedent if given the opportunity to revisit these issues.  

And the negative impact of this conservative Supreme Court is not limited to fundamental constitutional rights. Due to cases brought by Republican attorney generals from across the country, this conservative Supreme Court blocked President Biden’s student loan relief program for millions of borrowers who stood to benefit. And now the Biden-Harris Administration’s latest efforts to make student loans easier to pay back is under attack and we can expect this conservative Supreme Court to weigh in again – and I’m not holding my breath that they’ll stand on the side of students and families.  

This Court has also upended civil rights and public accommodation laws. It used to be the case that the person who was intentionally being discriminated against because of their race, sex, gender, sexual orientation, or national origin was the victim of discrimination. But thanks to this Supreme Court’s decision in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, this Court would have you believe the victim is the business who wants to deny services to some individuals, and not the individuals who would actually be denied services. This is a fundamental shift in our civil rights laws and opens the door to further discrimination against individuals in the name of speech or religion. 

If we fail to elect Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, re-elect Tim Kaine and elect a Democratic House and Senate, a second Trump presidency emboldened by a Republican-controlled Congress will have the opportunity to appoint at least two justices to the Supreme Court. This would cement a conservative super majority on the court for at least another generation. And any hopes of legitime court reform, such as term limits or a binding code of ethics, will never see the light of day.