EXCLUSIVE: A former U.S. Army Special Forces Green Beret and fight veteran introduced Monday he was becoming a member of the race to try to flip what may very well be considered one of 2024’s best congressional seats from the Democrats.
Republican Derrick Anderson, who served six excursions of responsibility all through the Middle East as a part of the Global War on Terror, informed Fox News Digital he may “no longer remain silent on the sidelines.” Anderson added he’s working to carry management to Virginia’s seventh Congressional District, which he argues is missing underneath Democrat Rep. Abigail Spanberger.
“I have spent my life serving this country overseas, including combat tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. Watching President Biden and Washington Democrats squander 22 years of sacrifices made by our service members and their families was the final straw for me,” Anderson mentioned.
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“President Biden and career politicians are putting politics and their own gains in front of fighting for what’s best for the American people: safer streets, better paying jobs and cheaper goods, a secure border and an education system that teaches our children how to think, not what to think,” he mentioned.
Anderson served in the Army from 2006 to 2014 earlier than his first run for Congress in 2022. That yr he narrowly misplaced the Republican major to former congressional candidate Yesli Vega. Spanberger, a former CIA operative, went on to defeat Vega in the final election by slightly below 5%, securing her third time period after she was first elected in the 2018 midterms.
According to Politico, Spanberger has mentioned she’s going to run for governor of Virginia in 2025 and can forego working for a fourth time period in Congress subsequent yr.
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Former Army Green Beret Derrick Anderson is working for Congress in Virginia’s seventh Congressional District as a Republican. (Derrick Anderson for Virginia)
Virginia’s seventh Congressional District has remained one of many Republican Party’s prime targets to flip from the Democrats and is, as soon as once more, thought-about a possible swing district going into the 2024 elections. A possible absence of Spanberger on the poll may make that extra obtainable and Anderson feels he’s the candidate who can lastly transfer Republicans throughout the end line.
“Though I no longer wear a United States Army uniform, it does not mean I can no longer serve this nation. I pledge to be the representative the people of Virginia’s 7th District deserve and are owed,” he informed Fox. “I will run a tireless, heartfelt and genuine campaign the people of the 7th district, the place that raised me, can be proud of.”
In the video Anderson launched as a part of his campaign launch, he touts his childhood mopping flooring and washing dishes in his mom’s native Spotsylvania County restaurant earlier than occurring to Virginia Tech on an Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps scholarship, the place he grew to become the primary particular person in his household to graduate from school.
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Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., has mentioned she won’t run for re-election in 2024 as she units her sights on becoming a member of Virginia’s gubernatorial race. (Getty Images)
“I’m running for Congress to fight for you, and to serve the country I love once again,” he says, earlier than itemizing the insurance policies he would prioritize because the district’s consultant.
Anderson is now considered one of 5 candidates vying for the Republican nomination for the district.
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Republicans at the moment maintain a slim five-seat majority in the House of Representatives and are hoping to construct on that subsequent yr, partly by capitalizing on the unpopularity of President Biden. The occasion gained management of the chamber following the 2022 midterm elections, however carried out effectively beneath expectations.
