By Taylor Boyd
The three Democrats seeking their party’s nomination to challenge U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, in Virginia’s 9th Congressional District discussed health care, data centers, climate change and gun violence during an online forum for undecided voters July 15.
Candidates Adam Murphy, Joy Powers and Douglas Crockett answered questions on issues affecting Southwest Virginia ahead of the Aug. 4 Democratic primary. The winner will face Griffith in the Nov. 4 general election.
Medicare, rural health care
Murphy said he supports Medicare for All and would consider another single-payer system if a better option were proposed.
“If someone comes up with a better single-payer universal health care system that’s even better than Medicare for All, I’d be willing to listen, but in the time since the ACA (Affordable Care Act) has been passed, no one’s come up with anything better than that,” he said.
Murphy said improving/expanding rural health care will require greater investment in emergency medical services, updated reimbursement formulas and expanded services.
“In our areas you often have to travel much farther and get reimbursed at much worse rates than in places that are more urban and dense, and that’s just due to the way that funding formula is done. We’re going to have to update that to make sure our rural areas actually get better reimbursement rates so these volunteer groups are able to get to people,” he said.
Crockett said he supports universal health care in principle, but questioned whether campaigning on Medicare for All is politically realistic.
“I think to endorse that at this point is to be kind of blind to the current political situation,” he said. “As soon as you go to that place, you will lose a lot of people on the right. Not necessarily because they’re practically opposed to it, but because there are people who will start yelling, ‘You’re a socialist.’”
He said Congress should expand access to critical access hospitals by changing eligibility rules and reimbursement rates.
Powers also said universal health care is necessary.
“It may be politically inconvenient to say that, but I do think the reality is people are going to die next year at a very alarming rate, and we have to be really honest with our neighbors about that,” she said.
She also called for changes to the federal 340B drug pricing program, saying funding changes have contributed to rural clinic closures, and said more incentives are needed to recruit medical professionals to the district.
Data centers and climate
All three candidates voiced support for a temporary moratorium on data center construction while additional environmental and infrastructure concerns are addressed.
Powers said data centers raise concerns about water use and public trust.
“Even Morgan Griffith at one of his townhalls last night, made the comment that China is trying to scare us into not wanting data centers. China already has less data centers than the entire state of Virginia does, and honestly I feel like China is laughing at us – use our resources, waste them, all for kind of the greed of a few in our country,” Powers said.
“We are in a national water crisis, and we must actually get this situation under control,” she said.
She also said climate change demands immediate action.
“We’re seeing these floods and these storms continuously hit our district year after year. That is from climate change. Those are results, and we absolutely must look to see what we can do.”
Crockett said questions about electric demand, water consumption, diesel generators and costs to consumers should be answered before more data centers are approved.
“I have seen this happen a number of times in my life where the industry gets out ahead of the government and people make their profits, and then later on we find out, ‘Hey, we were hurting people, we were killing people, we were destroying the environment,’ and it’s happening again,” he said.
Murphy called data centers “the great bogeyman of the time. Pretty much across the board they are a bad deal,” he said.
Murphy said he supports stricter federal environmental standards, including limits on water use, sound levels and backup generators.
“I think we need to put some limits around data center developments, around the environmental costs, that they need to hit certain standards, that they have to pass an environmental survey, and they cannot proceed if that environmental survey isn’t passed,” he said.
Murphy also called climate change “the greatest existential threat of the time.”
Gun violence
Crockett said gun violence should be addressed through both policy changes and recognition of broader social issues.
He said he supports restrictions on where firearms may be carried, limits on certain firearms and magazine capacities, and prohibitions for some people with criminal records or mental health issues.
Murphy, who described himself as a firearm owner and supporter of the Second Amendment, said many firearm deaths are tied to suicide and mental health.
“I feel like a big chunk of those specific categories are due to mental health, and specifically due to mental health in an American system that has let people fall through the gaps year after year,” he said.
Murphy said he supports measures such as red flag laws and gun safety laws, but is more hesitant about magazine restrictions.
Powers, who said she previously worked as a compliance manager for firearms sales and manufacturing, said her experience convinced her universal background checks are needed.
“What was so grievous about that entire situation was knowing those same individuals who would be charged criminally for trying to buy a gun from me and our store could go to a gun show or private seller and legally still buy a gun,” she said. “We absolutely, absolutely have to have universal background checks in this country.”
