01 July 2008

Virginia 2nd Voters See Election Through Military Lens

Foreign policy hits close to home in region dominated by armed services

A sailor newly returned to Norfolk hugs his wife and child. The military is the emotional and economic heart of the Virginia 2nd.

By Danielle Zielinski
Special Correspondent

Washington -- To many residents of Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District, time is measured not in calendar years but in military deployments.

Forts and bases dot the district’s landscape in the southeastern region known as Hampton Roads. Send-offs and homecomings frequently make the front pages of the area’s two daily newspapers, as do other reminders of the area’s military culture: Since 2003, 53 service members with ties to Hampton Roads have died in Iraq. This stark number makes the war and U.S. foreign policies local issues for voters in the Virginia 2nd.

“I do pay attention to candidates’ stances on the war in Iraq -- most definitely,” said Scott Matthews, a 27-year-old veteran from Hampton who served in Iraq in 2003.

The district is home to units of every branch of the U.S. armed forces and one of the nation’s largest concentrations of military personnel. Approximately 110,000 active-duty military personnel live in the Hampton Roads area. The total military population -- including active duty, reserves, retirees and family members -- totals more than 300,000 in an area with a population of 1.8 million. The military presence pumps $11 billion into the local economy each year.

Naval Station Norfolk -- the world’s largest naval base, with 36,000 acres and more than 6,750 buildings -- is located in the district. Other major military units and installations include Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek, Naval Air Station Oceana, Langley Air Force Base, Fort Story, Fort Monroe, NATO’s Allied Command Transformation, U.S. Joint Forces Command, the U.S. Air Force’s Air Combat Command, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Command and the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command.

“Most of my neighbors are either active-duty military or retired military or work on the base,” said Cathy McCarthy, president of Operation Homefront Hampton Roads, a nonprofit organization that supports soldiers and their families. “It’s almost as if you don’t even think about it. Hampton Roads is military.”

McCarthy said her clients care about the same issues as other American families, but probably pay closer attention than the average voter to government actions affecting the military.

Recently, she said, top local concerns have been economic strain and access to financial assistance for wounded loved ones. Many people have experienced delays in receiving Veterans Affairs or Social Security benefits arising from the large number of service members wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Matthews said his political priorities include ensuring the best care for wounded soldiers and holding the government accountable for taxpayer money. He is in favor of expanding the “GI Bill,” a benefits program funding the cost of a college education for service members.

Democrat Jim Webb visits a Norfolk nursing home weeks before his 2006 Senate victory. Virginia is a swing state in the 2008 election.

IRAQ LOOMS LARGE IN HAMPTON ROADS

The most important issue for many voters in the Virginia 2nd is the continuing combat operation in Iraq and the toll it takes on families and the community.

“They have a great deal of strength, but you can hear a little bit of weariness creeping in,” McCarthy said of the families with whom she works. “They’re on the second, third or fourth deployment.”

The importance of military issues is not lost on the candidates vying to represent the district in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, or on presidential hopefuls who know Virginia will be a battleground state in November.

Both Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain visited the district during primary season, and both recognize foreign policy and the Iraq war are key issues in their campaigns.

Republican Senate candidate James Gilmore makes his own military service a centerpiece of his campaign, and touts his stances on expanding the GI Bill, increasing benefits for military families and ensuring strong armed forces. Mark Warner, the Democratic candidate, stresses the importance of properly supporting returning troops by providing the money and resources to care for wounded veterans.

In the House race, current Representative Thelma Drake underscores the importance of keeping the naval shipbuilding industry, a huge part of the Hampton Roads economy, competitive in the global marketplace. According to her campaign Web site, she intends to pursue legislative efforts -- such as adding budget funds to pay for two Virginia-class submarines per year -- to maintain shipbuilding jobs in the 2nd District.

Drake, a Republican member of the House Armed Services Committee, supports the Iraq war. Her opponent, Democrat Glenn Nye, calls for a significant reduction in troops in Iraq and a handover of responsibility to Iraqi forces. Nye is a former Foreign Service officer who worked in Iraq with a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) program to create jobs for Iraqis.

Matthews is not sure yet for whom he will vote in November, or if he will vote at all. In the presidential contest, he thinks that John McCain will make veterans’ issues a priority, but does not like the country’s current track and feels McCain would not do enough to change it.

McCarthy said the political opinions of military families vary, but they all share one common desire.

“All they want is their families safe,” she said. “Whether they feel that will be done by someone who will continue on the current course or pull back from the current course -- you never know what side they’re going to fall on.”

This article is part of America.gov’s continuing coverage of seven of the 435 U.S. congressional districts during the 2008 campaign. Each offers a different prism though which to view U.S. politics. For more information, see U.S Elections - State and Local.