Letter: Vote Ken Mitchell for 6th District
A first for me, I recently attended a candidate meet and greet. As an independent, I wanted to hear firsthand Ken Mitchell's approach to the issues in Virginia's 6th District.
He's highly intelligent, an excellent listener, with extensive experience. I had uninterrupted dialogue with him on several topics and received thoughtful unrehearsed answers to my questions. Mitchell gained leadership skills in the military, delivered briefings at the federal executive level, has business and infrastructure experience, understands the pros and cons of regulation, and has built relationships with the farmers in our district.
As a Lexington resident I can say that by contrast, our hometown boy Ben Cline's majority experience is as an attorney and professional politician with canned responses. After almost six years in Congress, he has accomplished little for our district; his legislative accomplishments are nearly non-existent. Clinecontain trigger words meant to frighten, petty whining, sometimes with exaggerated statements, inaccurate comments, and repetitive criticism about policies with no constructive suggestions for solution.
When Cline was first elected, I personally asked him if, despite being a Republican, could he represent all citizens of the 6th District and he replied in the affirmative; he has failed miserably at that. He only represents the most conservative. Our diverse district deserves representation by someone who has a variety of experience working toward problem resolution.
Cline has voted for government shutdowns despite thousands of his constituents being federal employees. Many feds make small salaries, living paycheck to paycheck. During shutdowns they go without pay until the government reopens; he gives them no thought. Cline has voted against aid for Ukraine despite a significant Ukrainian community in this district. He infers problems with election integrity despite having no election law expertise or any understanding of voting safeguards.
Rather than legislating, the Freedom Caucus with which Cline aligns, wastes time arguing with their own party members. A deadlocked Congress does the 6th District no good. Since 1952, except for a brief period from 1983-1993, we've been represented for 62 years by Republicans. It's time for Ken Mitchell, a moderate Democrat willing to cross the aisle.
Deborah Pollard, Lexington
