Independent candidate enters congressional race

BY CHELYEN DAVIS

Date published: 11/22/2007

BY CHELYEN DAVIS

Independent candidate Lucky Narain yesterday formally entered the race for the congressional 1st District.

Narain, 28, called himself a "conservative independent."

Narain joins Republican Del. Rob Wittman and Democrat Phil Forgit in a sprint to the Dec. 11 special election to fill the seat left vacant by the October death of Rep. Jo Ann Davis.

"Rob Wittman's support of abusive driver fees does not embody the type representation any of us want in Congress," Narain said in a press release announcing his candidacy. "The residents of this district need honest, fair and thoughtful representation in Washington. We have contenders in this race who are talking about big issues, but they are not focused on the real life, hardworking families."

Narain is a Hampton Roads-area resident who went to Christopher Newport University and studied law at Fordham University and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University. He's an Army Reservist and served with the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic.

He said that experience--he taught English and computer skills in a town near the Haitian border--shaped his belief that teachers need more support. He advocates raising their salaries and increasing the $250 federal tax credit teachers can get for school supplies to $1,000.

Narain spent more than a year living in Stafford and commuting to a job as an analyst with the U.S. General Services Administration, which he said provides valuable experience living in both ends of the 1st District. It also helped him understand traffic frustrations, he said.

Narain also supports increased funding for Veterans Affairs to improve medical care for veterans, and to that end advocates a consolidation of medical services between the VA and the Department of Defense. He says talking about preventing base closures is "common sense"--he wants to go further to provide veterans services.

He also wants continuation of President Bush's tax cuts, the replacement of the federal income tax with the fair tax, establishment of HOV lanes from Washington to Richmond, abolishment of any public funding for abortions, safeguarding of Second Amendment rights, and pursuit of stem-cell research using skin cells.

As the son of an Air Force veteran and a hairdresser, Narain said he understands veterans' needs and the needs of working families.

"I am bringing to the residents of the 1st congressional district a message of family, fair taxes and a fight for veterans," Narain said in his statement. "As a conservative independent--I will support policies that benefit hardworking families, promote an equitable tax structure and provide increased support to the thousands of individuals who risk their lives to protect our freedoms."

Date published: 11/22/2007