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Editor’s note: There were eight questions raised by Hampden-Sydney students at the Oct . 17 5th District debate. The last edition included answers to the first four. We provide the candidates’ answers to two more today and we’ll wrap things up with the final two in our next edition. 

Candidates for Virginia’s 5th District Congressional seat laid out their platforms and talked about their goals during a public forum held on Thursday, Oct. 17. The discussion took place at Hampden-Sydney College, with questions submitted from students and each person given a two-minute timeframe with which to answer. 

That included Republican and current State Senator John McGuire, as well as Democrat Gloria Witt, who works as president of the Amherst County NAACP chapter. Each person was given the same eight questions to answer during the event, speaking to a group consisting of a majority of Hampden-Sydney students. What we’re doing is presenting their answers just as they were given. 

Q: The Biden-Harris administration has sought to advance equity throughout the federal government. How do you understand equity and do you support this as a goal? 

Gloria Witt: Yes, I support equity as a goal. You know, we’ve got to where we are as a people, African-Americans, people of color, because of efforts to create equality after starting from a handicap of enslavement. And without diversity, equity and inclusion, you end up with let’s just say power brokers in charge. Equity to me is just meeting people where they are. If my parents didn’t have a college education, it’s hard for me to get that education. It’s a whole different way forward. I like to think about it as if everyone wants a pair of shoes and everybody got a Nike size 7, how would that feel? That’s equality. 

Equity would give a person what they need. You might get a size 7, you might get a size 6, and you might get a size 12 because it fits. America is an inclusive place. It’s never gonna go back, no matter how much they dream about putting the ketchup back in the bottle, it’s not going to happen. We are an inclusive America and we’re not going to change that, no matter how much Project 2025 might try to get us to ho back, it’s not happening, and therefore we have to appreciate the differences because that’s what makes us powerful, that’s what makes us unique and that is why I want to be in Congress, to represent your voice, because we need different voices in the room because we come from different places and different beginnings. And that’s why I appreciate equity. And we all need to begin to embrace it more. We have moved from equality now to a conversation about equity. Give people what they need to thrive. 

John McGuire: Well, what I would say as a veteran and as an American is I love our country and I love the American people. If somebody saved your life on the battlefield, you wouldn’t care if they were male or female, tall or short, pink or blue, Democrat, Republican or Independent, we’re all people. And if you have a good idea, you have a good idea. It doesn’t matter what you call yourself. You can call yourself a Democrat or Independent Republican, but if you have a good idea, you have a good idea. I believe in equal opportunity for all America but what I do not agree with is equal outcome. If I spend 10 years with a violin and you spend two weeks with a violin, we cannot be equal in that. When I look at diversity, equity and inclusion, I’m against that. It should be meritocracy. If a plane goes down in the jungle and there’s one direction you go to save your whole team, do you want someone who’s never been in the jungle? Or do you want a Navy SEAL who’s an expert on survival to keep the team alive? It should be based on merit and I don’t care if you’re pink or blue or what. If you’re the best heart surgeon, it should be a meritocracy. 

I believe that diversity, equity and inclusion is a Marxist idea. And what I mean by that is if you take the equity and substitute it for Marxism, it fits. It’s trying to get equal outcome without equal input or equal work. So, equal opportunity for everybody? Absolutely. But I do not believe in equal outcome for everyone. It doesn’t work. It’s a way to fail. And if you saw the failed, and thank God, by the grace of God it failed, the assassination attempt on Trump in Butler, how tall is he? 6’4 or something like that? They had very short people trying to protect him. It makes no sense. It should be based on merit and qualifications to do the job. 

Q: How would you vote on further funding of defense bills to aid in the war in Ukraine and Israel? 

McGuire: Well, I gotta tell you, we’ve got a lot of problems going on in our country. And so I think there are many things we can do with our dollars. When I see this wall, we need to build the wall and secure our border. And when I see folks taking those metal walls down and selling them for pennies on the dollar, walls work. We need to put our money into helping the people that are victims of Hurricane Helene. I’m not sure what the best solution is, but I do know four years ago, we didn’t have the problems in Ethiopia, Ukraine and Israel, and I think we need, President Trump, out of all the politicians, I’ve listened to all the world leaders, what they say about Ukraine and he said the best thing anyone has said. 

Remember, our job is to be your voice and represent everyone in the 5th Congressional District. Not some of you. I don’t care if you’re Democrat, Republican or Independent, I love you. We’re here to represent all of you. And he said the best thing anyone said. He said I just want people to stop dying. I’ve had face to face, close conversations with President Trump and he said ‘John, you’re a Navy SEAL, you’re only going to get six hours sleep in the first 100 days, God Willing he wins and God Willing I’m your Congressman. He said you’re only going to get six hours. He doesn’t want to take four years to turn this country around. He wants our young people to have a better future. He wants all Americans to be able to live, work and raise their family in peace. So we need to end these foreign wars and bring people together in peace.

Witt: I’m trying to get my head around what Sen. McGuire just said. That was, what do you call it? Food salad. That was food salad at its finest. A couple things, I wish I had something to write on but I don’t. What would be my solution for funding the wars? Ukraine is fighting a war for democracy. They understand it. Russia came in and violated. We said we would support them and as far as I’m concerned, we’re all in. And we must continue to support them because if they make it to Poland, our allies, then our sons and daughters will be at war. So I am all in for fully funding whatever it takes. Regarding Israel and Hamas, that situation is complicated and it’s horrible.

Israel had a right to enter and to protect itself and at this point we need a cease-fire. Women and children are dying in massive numbers and its complicated. And quite frankly, let’s just say our legislators who are handling it now, since I’m the newcomer to the political world, I would say I need to learn more but we have to have a cease-fire. We need to release the hostages and we have to have a long-term strategy for a two-state solution. In that bucket, we’ve got to seek peace, because it’s getting harder and harder in that part of the world. We’ve got to keep talking, we’ve got to keep the channels open. Hopefully with the new events of today, we can move forward toward cease-fire, release the hostages and eventually things will begin to settle down because we don’t want to spread the fighting.