More than 100 people packed the Aquia Harbour Inn, the community center for the gated neighborhood in North Stafford, to see Yesli Vega, whose running for congress.
The Republican seeks to unseat Democrat Abigail Spanberger to represent Virginia’s 7th District, which includes Stafford County, and Prince William County, where Vega serves on the Board of County Supervisors.
Vega’s campaign stump came on the day Spanberger called for the ousting of Speaker of the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, after Spanberger’s bill to reform congressional insider stock trading had languished in congress.
“This moment marks a failure of House leadership — and it’s yet another example of why I believe that the Democratic Party needs new leaders in the halls of Capitol Hill, as I have long made known. Rather than bring Members of Congress together who are passionate about this issue, leadership chose to ignore these voices, push them aside, and look for new ways they could string the media and the public along — and evade public criticism,” Spanberger states.
Spanberger doesn’t expect a vote on her legislation until after the November 8 election. As of June, Spanberger voted with Pelosi’s Democrat majority 100% of the time, according to an analysis by FiveThirtyEight. Alternatively, Spanberger voted with former President Donald Trump less than most other Democrats, only 8.7% of the time.
“That’s what a career politician does,” said Vega when Potomac Local News asked about Spanberger’s call to oust Pelosi. “She knows she’s in trouble, running scared, so it’s a little too late. People are not buying her lies anymore. They know exactly who she is and what she’s about.”
The energy among Vega supporters and campaign volunteers is rising in the weeks leading up to Election Day. Recent events in the area have attracted well over 100 supporters at rallies reminiscent of those held by Glenn Youngkin a year ago, who became Virginia’s first Republican governor since 2010.
Vega, a police officer, talked about rising crime rates, which she said are a product of the demoralizing effects of defunding the police movement, and the 2020 riots on officers across the country.
“We went from being greeted from grabbing our morning coffee to ‘if looks could kill,’ because you wear a uniform, because you’re an officer, being lumped up into a category, labeled, and called horrifying names for something you had nothing to do with,” said Vega.
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.
