We are writing to you today to endorse our friend and fighter for Virginia’s 10th Congressional District … Barbara Comstock. In our extensive careers serving Virginia, we have worked with Barbara. We know she is a uniquely effective legislator with deep relationships throughout the 10th District and in Congress that enables her to deliver bipartisan results that are improving the lives of her constituents as well as our community.
As the Congresswoman for the 10th District, Barbara Comstock has demonstrated that she is a strong fighter for the people and diverse interests of the district — our military, our veterans, our federal employees, our farmers, our technology community, our hospitals and medical and research community, our schools and universities, our historical and heritage communities, our charities, and more. Barbara is immersed in the issues vital to the 10th District, her constituent service continues to be strong, and we strongly endorse her re-election.
As the only female member of the Virginia congressional delegation, Barbara has taken on an important leadership role for women: Barbara led the charge on cracking down on sexual harassment in Congress and the workplace, passing major reform legislation to require mandatory training for all staff and Members of Congress to prevent harassment, as well as legislation to reform the process by providing a victims advocate office and demanding more accountability and transparency.
Barbara has also been a leader promoting women in the STEM fields with the passage of her “INSPIRE” Act and other STEM education efforts, and she established the 10th District Young Women’s Leadership Program that has mentored over 1,500 young women in high school and junior high school.
Barbara has fought for and delivered results for the 10th District on key issues vital to our community:
Rebuilding our Military: Barbara championed rebuilding our military and ending the national defense sequestration budget cuts that were hollowing out our military and threatening readiness and hurting Virginia’s economy
Fighting for our Veterans: Barbara has fought for better health care and choice for our veterans and she worked with local and federal officials to bring a Veterans Community Access Center to Leesburg – in just 8 months — which now provides a wide range of services for Veterans as well as active duty military personnel and their families.
Battling the Opioid Crisis:Barbara has fought the opioid crisis, working with local sheriffs, schools, hospitals, churches, faith-based groups to address the addiction crisis. She fought for $4 billion in new resources for coordinated responses and treatment as well as law enforcement help. She obtained HIDTA (High Intensity Drug Trafficking Assistance) for the western part of the district and has led efforts to increase this funding.
Fighting for Metro Funding: Barbara has secured $150 million in funding for Metro every year she has been in Congress – sometimes having to fight attempted cuts by her own Republican colleagues. Barbara also introduced much needed Metro reform legislation that was endorsed by the Loudoun Chamber of Commerce, former D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams and bipartisan leaders and business groups.
Protecting Dulles Airport: Barbara has had to fight the extremely powerful Texas Congressional Delegation to protect Dulles Airport when her Texas colleagues tried to change the flights in our region at Reagan and Dulles Airports. With this victory, Dulles Airport will remain a thriving economic engine for our entire region.
A Stalwart for Federal Employees: Barbara is the only member of the National Capital Region to never vote for a government shutdown and she firmly believes that we cannot balance the federal budget on the backs of our hardworking federal employees. That is why she worked to broker a bipartisan agreement with her colleagues to include scheduled pay increases for federal employees. The political action committee for the National Active and Retired Federal Employees (NARFE) supports Barbara.
Preserving our History:Barbara works with the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation and The Journey Through Hallowed Ground and its partners to preserve the hallowed ground of the Valley’s Civil War battlefields, to share its Civil War story with the nation, and to encourage tourism and travel to the Valley’s Civil War sites and increase economic growth tied to our historic sites, parks, restaurants, and hotels. She has continued to support grants for preserving our historical areas and that is why she has strong support from our heritage community as well as our tourism and hospitality community.
Tax Cuts for Families and Businesses: Barbara delivered on tax relief for our families and businesses; lowering personal tax rates; doubling the child tax credit to $2k and giving 90 percent of Americans increased take home pay; providing new tax incentives for family leave; lowering utility costs; cutting business taxes by 40 percent and tax cuts for small businesses all helping bring back jobs to the U.S. and grow our economy by over 4 percent. That is why Barbara has the endorsement of the U.S. Chamber, NFIB and all the major business groups – she works with and understands our diverse business community.
Claude Moore Colonial Farm: Barbara is fighting to preserve this historical landmark in our community that we supported decades ago and she has introduced legislation to keep the farm open and broker a continued public-private partnership solution so that families can enjoy it for years to come.
For these reasons and more, Barbara Comstock is a leader in every sense of the Virginia way and is always fighting for her constituents and the District. It is important that the region continue to have bipartisan leadership in Congress because one-party domination in our region would ill serve many of our constituencies that need both parties fighting for their interests.
We strongly support her in her re-election to Congress this year, and ask 10th Congressional District residents to vote for her on Nov. 6.
Senator John Warner
Congressman Frank Wolf
Congressman Tom Davis