Wexton, Cao debate in Manassas Park, outline key differences on immigration, transgender issues

Congressional candidates Jennifer Wexton (D) and Hung Cao (R) spoke to voters at a forum Wednesday night in Manassas Park.

Mary Washington University Professor Dr. Steven F. Fuller asked more than 10 questions of the candidates during an exchange that lasted nearly an hour and a half. Many of them were about multiple crises facing the nation — inflation, the weakening economy, increased fuel costs, and increased mortgage rates in a cooling Real Estate market.

Cao says the Federal Government should lift restrictions on domestic energy production that “cripple the gas industry, which happened on day one of the Biden administration.”

Wexton blamed oil companies for increased prices, claiming they’re gouging customers, and supported President Biden’s push to convert to green energy by forcing a shift to electric vehicles to decrease reliance on fossil fuels.

Cao called the forced shift a penalty for citizens and business owners who cannot afford the more expensive electric motors. “We can’t get to clean energy overnight,” said Cao. “To punish the American poeple is wrong.”

On the teetering economy last month, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates three-quarters of a percent to 3.75%. In Woodbridge on Friday, September 30, 2022, Richmond Fed Bank President Tom Barkin told business leaders that he expects rates to increase to nearly 5% next year.

Cao said the Fed should stop its price-fixing measures. “It brings up prices of gas and mortgages when you fix rates… that’s when prices go up across the board,” said Cao.

On abortion, Wexton said the Supreme Court’s decision to allow state legislatures, not the federal courts, to decide to let abortion is about controlling a woman’s body. Cao supports allowing state legislators the opportunity to determine whether or not abortion should be legal in respective territories.

On Russia’s War in Ukraine, Wexton called for the continued financial support of Ukrainian soldiers, to which the U.S. has pledged more than $50 billion, more than any other country. Without being asked, Wexton assured the crowd that there was no fraud, waste, or abuse of the war funds.

Cao suggested congress become more concerned with worsening illegal immigration on the southern U.S. border at Mexico than the border of Russia and Ukraine.

Since Biden took office, millions of illegal immigrants have crossed the border and flown to cities across the U.S.

“We need higher walls and wider gates,” said Cao. “Walls worked on the military installations I served on in Afghanistan.”

“We don’t favor walls,” said Wexton. “We must use facial recognition software and x-ray trucks to prevent smuggling.”

The proliferation of data centers in Prince William County was one of the few local issues about which the candidates were asked. Both oppose local efforts by the Prince William County Government to allow data centers to be built on 2,100 acres next to the Manassas National Battlefield Park.

“There’s a place for everything, and the data centers have no place near the battlefield,” said the Battlefiled “[Prince William County Supervisors] should place data centers in industrial areas.”

Paving over rural areas will affect the region’s water supply by producing more sediment runoff into area streams, which flow into the Occoquan Reservoir, used by two million people in Fairfax and Prince William County, including Fort Belvoir.

“We encroaching on the water that affects that base, and that’s where I would step in as a federal legislator,” said Cao.

Wexton also doubled down on her assertion that her opponent has “extreme views” over those who have been imprisoned in a Washington, D.C. jail following riots at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. “I called Mr. Cao extreme because his views are extreme. Our democracy needed protection when they wanted to overturn a free and fair election result.”

Following Biden’s unprecedented speech on September 1, 2022, labeling those who supported Donald Trump as semi-fascist enemies of the state, Cao took issue with Wexton’s lack of response.

“A representative with integrity would have stood up to him and said, Mr. President, you’re wrong. The voters in our district may disagree with your politics, but many of them are police officers, firefighters, and government employees who have integrity,” said Cao.

Cao didn’t mince words when asked whether or not transgender students should be able to use the locker room of their choosing when playing scholastic sports. “Biological boys do not belong in girls’ lockerrooms or on girls’ sports teams,” said Cao.

The statement elicited gasps from Wexton supporters. Wexton criticized Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin after the Virginia Department of Education reviewed new guidelines aimed to restore parents’ rights taken away by the previous Northam administration, to be notified if their child seeks counseling for gender and must consent if a child wants to be called by another pronoun other than what’s noted on a birth certificate.

“[The guidelines] vilifies [transgender children] and use them as political pawns,” said Wexton.

During closing statements, Cao asked voters to consider whether or not their families are better off financially and if they feel safer in the face of rising crime versus two years ago.

Meanwhile, Wexton promised to continue fighting for “our values.”

The Prince William Committee of 100 and the League of Women Voters Prince William and Fauquier counties sponsored the debate at the Manassas Park Community Center.

Wexton is seeking a third term as Virginia’s 10th Congressional representative. The former assistant district commonwealth’s attorney won a seat in the Virginia State Senate in 2014 and then beat Republican Barbara Comstock for the 10th District seat in 2018.

Cao is a retired Navy captain of 25 years and a Vietnamese refugee, making his first bid for public office.

The General Election is Tuesday, November 8, 2022.

• The deadline to register to vote or update an existing registration is October 17, 2022.
• The deadline to apply for a ballot to be mailed to you is October 28, 2022. Your local voter registration office must receive your request by 5 p.m.
• Voter registration offices open for early voting: Saturday, October 29, 2022.
• The last day of in-person early voting at the city’s voter registration office is Saturday, November 5, 2022, at 5 p.m.