John McGuire

The latest Tom Perriello campaign ad is highlighting how John McGuire was the lone “no” vote in the State Senate on a bill to raise Virginia’s minimum marriage age from 16 to 18.

And we’re not talking about this being a vote from a long time ago – this was in 2024, a mere two years ago.

We’ll gloss over, for now, how 42 Republicans in the House of Delegates voted “no,” with a note to self to bring this back up next year, when the MAGAs ’round here are back up for re-election, and will need to ’splain themselves.

Per reporting from Dogwood, McGuire rationalized his “no” vote by saying, to a constituent in Prince Edward County who’d asked:

“If a young man and a young girl get pregnant, they need to have a marriage,” said McGuire, who, notably, has consistently voted to limit the rights of 16-year-old girls, and females of all ages, to be able to make the call for themselves with respect to their reproductive health.

In John McGuire’s America: you get pregnant, no matter how old you are, you get married.

“This wasn’t a complicated decision. It was about protecting children,” said State Del. Katrina Callsen, D-Charlottesville. “John McGuire owes every parent and every young girl in Virginia an explanation for why he stood alone.”

Sure she means there, a real explanation – not the one about forcing a teen girl to get married with a shotgun pointing at the head of the doofus who knocked her up.

I like the way the TV ad tells this story.

A teen, sitting on her bed, surrounded by stuffed animals and a soccer ball, is thousand-yard-staring into the abyss, as the narrator reminds us:

“She doesn’t have a vote to stop Congressman McGuire yet, but we do.”

Chris Graham is the founder and editor of Augusta Free Press. A 1994 alum of the University of Virginia, Chris is the author and co-author of seven books, including Poverty of Imagination, a memoir published in 2019. For his commentaries on news, sports and politics, go to his YouTube page, TikTok, BlueSky, or subscribe to his Street Knowledge podcast. Email Chris at [email protected]. Support AFP by signing up for our newsletter and/or powering our work with a one-time or monthly contribution.

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