| New reporting from the Associated Press highlights how Shannon Taylor’s focus on rooting out corruption in Washington to lower costs for Virginians is resonating in her campaign to unseat nearly 20-year incumbent Rep. Rob Wittman.
One self-described independent couple who voted for Shannon told the AP that Wittman’s self-enrichment in office was one reason why they are backing her this time, saying: “He’s earned enough money.”
The AP verifies that “records do make clear Wittman’s reported assets and individual stock holdings — he has dozens in companies with interests before Congress — have grown substantially during his time in office.”
Recent polling from The Washington Post found Taylor leading Wittman by 4 percentage points, 50% – 46%.
Read key highlights from AP:
- Taylor’s campaign is one of many that’s embracing an anti-corruption message in a midterm year that’s otherwise defined by high gas prices, persistent inflation and sinking confidence in the economy. With so much frustration over the cost of living, candidates see an opportunity to argue that incumbents are more interested in looking out for themselves or donors than their constituents.
- […] records do make clear Wittman’s reported assets and individual stock holdings — he has dozens in companies with interests before Congress — have grown substantially during his time in office.
- Taylor, the top elected prosecutor in a suburban Richmond’s Henrico County, pledges to support a stock trading ban, term limits — something Wittman argued isn’t necessary — and a lifetime ban on members of Congress becoming lobbyists.
- “Politicians in both parties are cheating the system, getting rich by trading stock while getting information only they have. Personally profiting when corporations rip us off,” Taylor said in one television advertisement.
- Bruce and Mary Halliburton, a retired married couple from Henrico County who are self-described independents, said Taylor’s message has resonated.
- “He’s earned enough money,” Bruce Halliburton said of Wittman after the couple voted early for Taylor.
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