Abortion was a key issue among candidates for the 27th Senate District as speakers offered viewpoints that fell along party lines — as well as personal experience — during a Wednesday night debate.
Republican Tara Durant said she would support a plan to allow abortions, no later than 15 weeks into pregnancy, except in cases of rape, incest or danger to maternal health. In her next breath, she said the “true extremists” on the issue are her opponents, who she said would allow abortions to be held up to the minute a baby is born.
Democrat Joel Griffin countered that he believes abortion rights are fundamental and should be left to a woman and her doctor, not decided by politicians in Richmond. He said Durant, who currently serves in the House of Delegates, “has been propped up” for a seat in the Senate for one reason: “to be the deciding vote to ban abortions in Virginia.”
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In the middle was Independent Monica Gary, both figuratively and literally. While Durant wore a red dress and Griffin a blue jacket, Gary had a purple shawl around her shoulders.
She sat between them on the stage of the University of Mary Washington’s Dodd Auditorium and said she knew more about the issue than anyone speaking. She had several abortions during a previous, and abusive, relationship.
“It’s a difficult part of my story,” she said. “I understand what people go through when they seek this service.”
Gary has posted on social media that she has “subsequently been against them due to the trauma, (but is) now a healed advocate of abortion rights.”
Almost 300 people filled the auditorium for UMW’s second political debate this month. So many people attended the Sept. 13 forum between Democrat Joshua Cole and Republican Lee Peters, candidates for the 65th House District, that organizers moved Wednesday’s debate to the bigger venue.
Stephen Farnsworth, professor of political science and director of the Center for Leadership and Media Studies at UMW, moderated the 90-minute event and detailed rules for candidates, and the audience. He asked people to hold their applause until certain points in the program, to give candidates the most time to share their views. He also asked audience members to refrain from showing signs or calling out remarks during the debate.
“If you want to participate vocally in these events, I encourage you to run for office for yourself,” he said.
At the end, he congratulated listeners for their adult behavior, saying people at national debates could learn a lesson from them.
Candidates also kept their remarks civil, although Griffin and Durant regularly traded typical barbs about extreme views of each other’s parties. Once more in the middle, Gary said Griffin called her a dirty word when he referred to her as a politician.
Gary has served on the Stafford Board of Supervisors for two years and characterized herself as having a life “similar to most people.” She said she’s not disconnected from the public, her children attend public schools and she would encourage people to work together, not divide them into opposing parties.
Gary’s social media profile also lists her as a faith leader, wife of a Marine veteran, mom of seven and “oh yeah, I used to be a stripper.”
Durant, who was elected two years ago to the 28th District House seat, has campaigned for the Senate on the platform of making Virginia more secure financially and in schools and communities. The mother of three and a former school teacher, who’s also married to a Marine, she said “liberal Democrats continue to threaten our security” and that Virginians are overtaxed and struggling.
Durant, who is endorsed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin, cited her background of supporting police, saying she will “always back the blue” and that’s why she’s had their support as well.
Griffin, a Stafford County businessman, entrepreneur, husband and father, joined the Marine Corps at age 18 and said he’s served the nation, state and Senate district for 30 years. He’s campaigned on protecting abortion rights, fully funding schools, stopping book bans in Spotsylvania County, and continuing to grow the state economy so it works for “all Virginia families and not wealthy corporations.”
Candidates were asked questions by panelists and from audience members, who submitted them in advance. On the topic of having data centers throughout the Fredericksburg region — as they’ve been proposed or approved in counties from Culpeper to King George — Durant and Griffin cited their benefits.
Durant said they’re a key part of her platform of economic security and that she supported localities being able to decide where they belong strategically. Griffin said they were coming to the region “whether we want them or not,” that the centers will generate revenue which can be put into schools and other expenses, and that they would create high-paying jobs.
Gary said the revenue is nice, and needed, but that the region should mitigate the environmental impacts of the centers, which require a lot of water and electricity. She said she’d like to see some but “we don’t want to become data center central.”
The candidates were asked their thoughts about a plan to open a methadone clinic in the Woodlawn Shopping Center off Deacon Road in Stafford. Protesters holding signs asking for legislators to protect their neighborhood, and their families, from problems such as increased traffic and crime, lined College Avenue outside the entrance to the auditorium.
None of the candidates spoke to the particular concerns about the Deacon Road clinic. Griffin said he would make sure he read any legislation that crossed his table before he voted on it, referring to the unanimous approval last year in both houses of the General Assembly that removed some of the restrictions about where treatment clinics could operate.
Legislators were asked to do so by community services boards, Durant has said at other meetings, because they were having a difficult time finding locations, and there was such a pressing need for them.
In her response to the question on Wednesday, Durant segued into punishing the crime that goes along with distributing the dangerous drug, fentanyl, and how “liberal Democrats” have blocked attempts to do that.
Gary said “we need to stop treating people who are seeking treatment like they’re less than,” and said she would continue to support those recovering from addiction.
The 27th Senate District includes all of Fredericksburg, 31 precincts in Stafford County and 12 precincts in Spotsylvania County.
