Virginia — 7th District

Republicans are working to grow their slim majority in the U.S. House of Representatives this fall while Democrats are trying to flip the U.S. House back to blue.

The road to the House majority runs through Virginia, where the 7th Congressional District race could be razor-close again and potentially tilt the balance of power.

Although Democratic Congressman Eugene Vindman does not have a primary opponent in Tuesday’s primary, three Republicans are competing to take on the first-term Congressman.

Rick Smithers, Philip Harding, and Doug Ollivant are competing in the Republican primary in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District, which tends to be one of the most competitive U.S. House districts in the commonwealth every two years.

Right now, all three candidates say the economy is top of mind for many voters.

Smithers is a pastor, works in construction, and served in the U.S. Army.

“The way the economy is, the way I see as a pastor as well, seeing struggling families and affordability just out of reach these days,” said Smithers. “I'm thinking somebody needs to do something. And everybody you talk to, they keep saying, well, you need a working-class man in office.”

Ollivant is a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel who served on the National Security Council.

“Affordability is a huge issue,” said Ollivant. “Power in particular. And then food is a secondary issue, I think. And of course, housing. I mean everything is more expensive, but energy is what I'm really getting the most resonance from. People are upset when they open their power bills and see the increases over the last six months or nine months, kind of an exponential, very noticeable increase in their electric bill.”

Harding says he wants something done about gas prices.

Harding is a Harvard University graduate, an entrepreneur, and he worked on Capitol Hill.

“I'm big on right out of the gate a gas tax holiday,” said Harding. “I think it would be great to relieve some of that pressure. Do that right out of the gate at the federal level. We'd love that. And we see prices have gone down a bit as well recently. But there's a lot of other things we can do to lift people up.”

Ahead of Tuesday’s primary, 7News asked all three GOP candidates where they stand on the booming AI data center industry that has faced fierce reaction from residents throughout the district.

7News has extensively covered how data centers, electrical substations, and high-voltage transmission lines have faced local backlash in communities throughout Virginia’s 7th Congressional District.

Dozens of data centers are looking to set up shop up and down the I-95 corridor in Spotsylvania County, Stafford County, and Prince William County.

The data center sprawl is also entering rural counties like King George.

Communities in Culpeper County and Orange County are not only fighting data centers, but also proposed high-voltage transmission lines and substations to power the data centers.

“I think in some ways, we're using 20th century solutions for 21st century problems,” said Ollivant. “We have the technology or we'll soon have the technology to put power for the data center at the data center. And then we're not worried about running power lines across our battlefields and farms and in some cases, backyards. That's scandalous. And that needs to stop.”

“At the end of the day, these are local decisions that need to be made by local people,” said Harding. “So I'm going to do my very best to empower and support them to make the decisions to best help their communities. And Belvedere Farms, we've taken our kids there for years to go pick out their pumpkins and do the hayride. That’s under talks to turn into 29 data centers. And that has a big impact on everyone.”

“What I suggested from the very beginning of this campaign, moratoriums, file them,” said Smithers. “It'll give everybody time to just slow down, sit down at the table and have a discussion. Is it going to raise the cost of electricity? Is it going to create a mess for our water, our drinking water system? Is it going to cost the taxpayers more money to get this infrastructure in place? Those are questions that need to be answered.”

Early voting has been going on for more than a month, but only 5,000 voters have cast their ballots in the Republican primary in the 7th Congressional District.

All three candidates are hoping to see a strong turnout on Tuesday as they prepare to take on the Democratic incumbent who won with 51 percent of the vote two years ago.