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Dear Editor:

On November 8, we  get to choose a congressman for the 5th U.S. Congressional District, and we have two very diverse choices: The Republican incumbent, Bob Good, voted on January 6 of last year to reject the Electoral College’s votes in the 2020 election. Against all evidence, like Trump, he claimed that the election was a fraud. On that same day he voted against honoring the police who defended our Capitol from insurrection. He has a record of negativity, resisting every beneficial bill that the Democrats have passed, and there have been many of these.

Good’s Democratic challenger, Josh Throneburg, an ordained minister, small business owner, and farmer, lives in Charlottesville with his wife and two young daughters. Josh’s proposals include creating good-paying jobs that protect our clean air and water, making it cheaper and easier for everyone to go to the doctor, reinvesting in our hollowed-out rural communities, and making broadband widely available. His voice in Washington will be one of compassion and common sense.

Not just a clear choice between two candidates, but also democracy itself will be on the ballot at this time: Right-wing legislators in a number of key states are plotting even now to let their cronies alter the results of elections, taking away from voters the right to elect a candidate. Up to now, the voter’s choice has been final, but now, in some states, legislators will be able to overrule it. At this point, we turn sharply away from democracy and toward fascism.

For this reason, the D beside the name of a candidate like Josh Throneburg now stands for democracy, and it is high time for every real patriot to safeguard it by voting in this congressional election. It may be our last chance to cast a vote that will be accepted.

Hubert Hawkins

Albemarle County