by Andrew Kerley
Pete Buttigieg, a former U.S. transportation secretary and presidential candidate, took the stage at the Henrico Theatre on Monday to rally Virginia Democrats ahead of next month’s midterm elections.
Joining Buttigieg were 1st District Democratic candidate Shannon Taylor, 2nd District candidate Elaine Luria and 5th District candidate Tom Perriello, as well as incumbent Rep. Jenniffer McClellan, D-4th District.
By visiting, Buttigieg — who consistently polls as a top presidential contender — also kept up his profile ahead of the 2028 Democratic primary election in which Virginia will be the last of six early primary states. “We’ll see,” he told Virginia Scope when asked about the prospect.
In front of a crowd of roughly 200 people, the former mayor-turned-prominent Democrat tied Virginia’s Republican congressional delegation to decisions that tore down what he considered progress during the Biden Administration.
Buttigieg harkened back to his work with the late 4th District Rep. Donald McEachin on reconnecting redlined neighborhoods like Jackson Ward in Richmond, as well as “breaking ground” on the Raleigh-to-Richmond rail line project.
“Couldn’t help but note that the new administration came in and froze the project,” Buttigieg said. “Then they made a big announcement just a few days ago that they were investing $500 million, and I thought, ‘well, that’s that’s great. I mean, maybe we don’t disagree as much as I thought.’ It’s not new funding. They’re just unfreezing some of the funding that we already announced a year and a half ago.”
Buttigieg called out Taylor’s opponent, 1st District Republican incumbent Rep. Rob Wittman, for taking credit for a project to improve the Interstate 64 highway in New Kent County.
“Again, I thought, ‘oh well, maybe I agree with Rob Wittman because I saw that he called it a game-changing project, bringing generational benefits,’” Buttigieg said. “He voted against it.”
A recent Washington Post-Schar School Poll found Taylor to be leading Wittman by four points, which would be a big swing from Wittman’s near 13-point win in 2024.
Virginia’s 2nd District looks to be the easiest pickup for Democrats. A new poll found Luria three points ahead of Republican incumbent Rep. Jen Kiggans, who took the seat from Luria in 2022 by over three points.
“We can do so much better than that. We will in just a few weeks,” Buttigieg told the crowd.
“This congressional GOP and this president have failed even by the mark that they set themselves,” he continued. “They came into office promising they were going to make life more affordable. Remember, they said they were going to cut costs on day one, groceries and everything else was going to get cheaper on day one. That’s what Donald Trump promised this country. It is day 638.”
Buttigieg also played up Perriello, who he said “faced political consequences for making sure everybody could have health care.” Perriello briefly held the 5th District after the 2008 Democratic landslide before losing it two years later, after he helped pass the Affordable Care Act.
“[The ACA] is one of many, many reasons why the people of that district now are going to be ready to send Tom Perriello back to the U.S. Congress,” Buttigieg said. “Especially when you compare him and our candidates to the alternative; Rob Wittman, Jen Kiggins, and John McGuire — voting for Donald Trump’s trillion-dollar tax breaks for billionaires and the biggest corporations in the country, while kicking 100,000 Virginians off of food stamps.”
Perriello has the toughest race ahead of him of all the Democrats at the rally. His Republican opponent Rep. John McGuire won the 5th District by 15 points in 2024.
Buttigieg decried McGuire, Kiggans and Wittman for helping to exacerbate the same affordability issues both sides of the aisle have used to define their messaging this year.
“Somewhere in Richmond, there’s a couple that’s been planning for two or three years to take a vacation. Next year was going to be the year … and they’re looking at the gas prices, their airfares and their bills. And someone’s getting ready to have an unpleasant conversation, saying, ‘Honey, I don’t think this is going to be the year,’” Buttigieg said.
“Maybe in Mechanicsville there’s somebody who’s been working after getting out of college for six or eight years,” he continued. “She thought this would be the year that she’s able to buy a house. Like so many people in my generation, she spends an inordinate amount of time on Zillow, looking at the real estate around … Now, looking at the mortgage, looking at the rent, she thinks, ‘not only is this not going to be the year to buy a house, but maybe I’m going to have to call mom and dad about moving back in.’”
Buttigieg called on the crowd of 200 to elect the full slate of Democrats to alleviate those issues, and for the sake of “rooting out the dark money that is dominating our politics,” “putting an end to Citizens United” and “banning partisan gerrymandering once and for all.”
“That is the difference between the current Republican one-party control in Washington and a Democratic majority in the House,” Buttigieg said. “That majority runs right through these three races in Virginia, some of the most competitive in the country.”