On a cloudy morning in Stafford, Virginia, CNN spoke with a series of GOP voters at the Courthouse Community Center, located in the 7th District of the Congress of Virginia, a district currently represented by Democrat Abigail Spanberger, but where the GOP intends to take advantage . his gains in the November race for the U.S. House of Commons seat held by Democrats.
The main Tuesday of these Republican voters was inflation, immigration and education.
Jennie Austin, a 62-year-old voter who wasn’t determined to go to the polls on Tuesday, said she noticed a rise in grocery prices when mushroom soup turned into $ 2 a can. He said road improvements and gas prices were also areas of concern.
Austin, who used to be a Democrat until the second term of former President Barrack Obama and voted for former President Donald Trump in both 2020 and 2016, denounced the current “mud” in politics.
Cisco Cividanes, a 77-year-old retired sailor who previously worked for the state, said that while he used to spend $ 275 a week on food, he now spends $ 290.
“What they’re doing in Washington is affecting us here in northern Virginia,” he said.
“It’s not going well right now. So many families are struggling,” said Linda Robertson, a 74-year-old retired school bus driver who drove students of all ages for 30 years at Stafford.
He cited rising gas prices as a problem. As a widow, Robertson said, “It’s hard to be alone.”
He also listed immigration as one of the main concerns and said Trump, whom he voted for in 2020 and 2016, “was not a politician” but “a businessman” and “did a good job”.
“I’m out of my mind because I’m tired of what’s going on,” said Juliet Schweiter, a substitute teacher and mother of three teenagers. Schweiter, a Stafford County voter, volunteered for the Crystal Vanuch campaign for Congress at the polls on Tuesday and appears as someone who has supported Vanuch on the Vanuch campaign website.
Vanuch is the current chairman of the Stafford County Board and a Republican candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives.
“I’ve become my personal job in politics,” Schweiter said, adding that he talks to his community and friends about politics and the importance of voting. Schweiter spoke out for Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin last November and spoke about it to his neighbors, he said.
He cited borderline, critical race theory (CRT), Second Amendment rights and inflation as key areas of concern and said the current administration is “raising its hands, saying ‘I don’t know what to do ‘”.
“I’ve always voted on issues,” Schweiter said. “The Democratic Party has come out of the bottom.”
Edward O’Brien, a 59-year-old Republican voter, said he was “upset with the whole list of problems” and listed “the border,” “the limits on fossil fuel production,” and “the forced production of fossil fuels.” electric vehicles ”as the most urgent of their concerns.
“People don’t want a quick transition to electric vehicles,” he said.
Similarly, Michelle West, a 59-year-old Republican voter who voted for Trump in 2020 and 2016, said education, border and inflation are also the top three issues that matter most to her. He said he wants to see “more parental involvement” in schools and believes “the CRT should leave”.
Anthony Johnson, a Democratic voter with whom CNN spoke to Stafford on Tuesday, said “voter rights,” “gender equality,” and “human rights” are of the utmost importance.
“It’s a right, a privilege and an honor to vote,” the 56-year-old Democrat said.