CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW)- Sen. Mark Warner and 5th district congressman John McGuire, who are both running as incumbents in November’s midterm elections, expressed little interest in debating with their opponents.
Warner and McGuire made appearances at the opening of an expansion to the Nicholson Building, on base at the U.S. Army’s National Ground Intelligence Center in Albemarle County, on Friday and shared their outlooks for the campaign trail during its final stretch.
Sen. Warner, who did appear at a forum with challenger Bert Mizusawa last week, said he is focused on his legislative agenda, including codifying artificial intelligence safeguards.
“I’m desperately trying to get an A.I. safety regime, and that is my foremost topic,” Warner said.
Warner went on to criticize Mizusawa’s recent comments expressing support for President Trump serving an unconstitutional third term and past comments downplaying the impact of the Iran war on high gas prices.
“I hope people say they’ve heard enough,” Warner said.
McGuire, when asked if he was willing to debate former 5th District Rep. Tom Perriello, repeated his demand that Perriello apologize for accusing him of insider trading before McGuire would agree to a debate.
“You can tell Tom Periello,” McGuire said, “that when he apologizes to the people for lying, we’ll talk about a debate.”
Two weeks after voting to pass the 21st Century Road to Housing Act, McGuire sold off over $1,000 of BlackRock Inc. stock, partially divesting himself from one of the companies the legislation targets three days before the bill became law, according to public disclosures.
“You don’t have to be intelligent to do the research and realize I’m not that guy,” McGuire said.
With intelligence gathering at the forefront of the day’s events, the lawmakers shared stark viewpoints on the current state of the Iran conflict, with rising prices at the pump being top of mind for many voting Americans.
Warner, the Vice Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, did not mince words.
“There was no imminent threat from Iran,” Warner said. “It would have been good if there had been a plan before the war began.”
The Senator was quick to say that he did not have a problem with ensuring that Iran did not have a nuclear weapon. But took issue with the lack of transparency to the American people about the operational cost, both in funds and lives, of the goal to remove the enriched uranium from Iran’s possession.
“To get that out would have required 15,000 troops on the ground going into these bunkers while the Iranians are shooting missiles at us,” Warner said.
Warner stated that, even if hostilities are ended, there are no good options going forward. The American people will pay long term for transporting oil or natural gas through that corridor.
McGuire disagreed with Warner’s information, saying instead that the length of the war has shown a great deal about their enemy and its threat.
“The fact that the war has taken this long should tell the American people that the threat was real, and that that intelligence is wrong,” McGuire said.
McGuire said the war was justified by the history of atrocities committed by the Iranian regime, Iran’s stockpile of ballistic missiles, and the continued need to prevent the “world’s No. 1 sponsor of terror” from having a nuclear weapon.
“I think all Americans want it to be over with, but we want to do it right,” McGuire said.
