“Virginians want less corruption, lower prices, and leaders who will actually deliver for them.”
The economic impacts of Republican policies are playing a role in Virginia’s two most competitive congressional races.
A typical school supplies shopping list will cost shoppers 7.7% more than it did a year ago, according to an analysis by the Groundwork Collaborative, a progressive advocacy group, and The Century Foundation, a progressive think tank. The analysis blamed the Trump administration’s tariffs for pushing up the costs of consumer goods and groceries.
Changes included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Republicans in Congress passed and Trump enacted, have led to an estimated 4.5 million people, including 1.5 million children, losing access to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) since the law was enacted, according to the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP).
More than 100,000 Virginians are no longer enrolled in SNAP in the wake of tightening eligibility restrictions that were part of the One Big Beautiful Bill.
The credit ratings agency Fitch Ratings recently warned that the One Big Beautiful Bill has created “significant uncertainty” for hospitals because of the tighter Medicaid eligibility requirements included in the legislation. Earlier this year, State Del. Rodney Willett (D-Henrico) called the threats to rural hospitals “a crisis.”
All five Virginia Republicans in the US House of Representatives supported the One Big Beautiful Bill, while all six Democrats opposed it.
Democrat Elaine Luria, the former congresswoman looking to flip Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District, said her opponent, Republican US Rep. Jen Kiggans, and Trump have failed to lower prices and make life affordable for working families.
“Instead, they’ve worked in lockstep to start and continue a reckless war that has caused gas prices to skyrocket, cut healthcare services for the middle class to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy, and used their offices to enrich their billionaire donors,” Luria said in a statement to Dogwood. “Virginians want less corruption, lower prices, and leaders who will actually deliver for them.”
Kiggans did not respond to a request for comment.
READ MORE: As costs rise, Kiggans wipes mention of gas prices from her website
Shannon Taylor, the Democratic candidate running in Virginia’s 1st Congressional District, criticized her opponent, Republican US Rep. Rob Wittman, for praising the impact of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
According to a WTVR report, Wittman said the legislation benefits everybody.
“They benefit folks that work overtime,” Wittman said, according to WTVR. “They benefit folks that work for tips. They benefit seniors who now get less of their Social Security income taxed. They help small businesses to actually keep their tax rates low, so it helps everybody.”
Taylor attacked Wittman for his support of the One Big Beautiful Bill because the legislation included massive cuts to federal healthcare funding that have pushed up costs for Virginians and added financial pressures to rural hospitals.
“Virginians don’t need Rob Wittman to explain how his bill ‘helps everybody’ — they’re the ones paying for it,” Taylor said in a press release Monday. “They’re the ones watching their premiums double, driving further for care because their local hospital shut down, and deciding which bill doesn’t get paid this month. I’m running to hold him accountable for getting richer at our expense.”
Taylor’s release linked to a Dogwood story from last year on an analysis by the nonprofit Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) for Accountable.US. The analysis found that Wittman could save between $19,900 and $59,300 in tax breaks because of the One Big Beautiful Bill.
Wittman did not respond to a request for comment.
