DOGE victim launches campaign for the House of Delegates
John Michael Forrest, a Democratic candidate running for the Virginia House of Delegates in 2027, is focusing on reducing the costs of rental housing, enacting stricter rules on campaign financing, and regulating AI.
Forrest is the first candidate to announce plans to go up against Del. Vivian Watts in a Democratic Primary expected to be held next spring. Watts represents the 14th District, which covers Annandale, Lincolnia, Bren Mar Park, Ravensworth, and parts of Falls Church in Mason District.
Youthful energy
At 31 years old, Forrest is 55 years younger than Watts, who was first elected to the General Assembly in 1982 and is the longest-serving member of the House of Delegates.
A resident of Pinecrest in Mason District, Forrest is originally from the Dallas area. After graduating from The Citadel Military College of South Carolina, he was unable to join the military due to asthma, so he earned a law degree at William and Mary, specializing in environmental law.
He worked on helping the federal government meet its clean energy goals under the Biden administration, but was forced out along with most of his coworkers after Trump was elected in 2024. At the same time, his wife lost her job at USAID, “so 2025 was an incredibly disruptive and difficult time for our family to navigate since our careers were upended,” he says.
“When that happened, I came to a decision that I had to become more politically involved – and do whatever I could to remedy the wrongs I’d seen in the world,” he says. “That was the catalyst for me to begin to explore running for political office.”
It took nearly seven months, but Forrest is now employed as a contractor working on developing nuclear reactors for Air Force bases. He believes nuclear energy is much safer now than in the past and could be a viable solution for combating climate change.
Reduce rents
Forrest told Annandale Today that one of his top priorities is reducing the cost of rental housing. “As renters, my wife and I are locked out of the homebuying market,” he says. “Increasing rents are one of the biggest price pressures on families trying to get their foot on the ownership ladder.”
Forrest would tackle that issue by prohibiting landlords from using AI-based algorithmic pricing tools like RealPage, which allows the owners of multifamily properties to submit information about their location, their tenants, and their units and come up with a standard rent.
Due to the impact of algorithmic rent pricing schemes in Northern Virginia, renters are paying an average of $112 more per month than they otherwise would, he says. When landlords all agree to charge the same rent for comparable units, it’s essentially a price-fixing conspiracy, he says, and that’s driving up housing costs for families.
“If people met in a room and did this, and agreed on a price, it would be a criminal conspiracy to illegally fix prices,” Forrest says. “However, if an AI software platform does this for people on their behalf, it’s totally legal in the eyes of the law.”
Restrict campaign financing
Another issue Forrest is concerned about is the need to enact campaign finance reform.
“Virginia has some of the most permissive campaign finance laws in the nation, and with it, some of the most expensive elections,” he says.
“There is effectively no cap on the amount individuals contribute to campaigns and no restrictions on corporations contributing to candidates,” he says. “Even entities that the state is required to regulate, such as Dominion Energy, are allowed to contribute to political campaigns.”
“I view this as incredibly corrosive and corrupt,” Forrest says. “A lot of the ills in our current politics right now are caused by unfettered campaign finance restrictions.”
Regulate AI
When asked to cite the biggest area where he differs from Watts, Forrest said he is much more concerned about the need to regulate artificial intelligence. “It’s up to the states to take the lead on AI, since Congress has abdicated their willingness to regulate it,” he says.
“Right now, AI agents are so incredibly convincing and persuasive, people have no real way to tell if they’re talking to a human or a machine,” he says. He proposes “standard metadata requirements on AI-generated audio, video, and images, so users can tell if they’re AI or not.”
With regard to data centers, Forrest says, “They need to be paying their fair share. They should not be getting massive tax breaks from the Virginia government. Data centers require massive amounts of energy, space, and infrastructure; I think they should be paying the entirety of those costs. and not be passing them off to ratepayers.”
Forrest also says he doesn’t like the fact that “a lot of these data centers are going up without adequate community engagement” and is “deeply concerned” about the development of by-right data centers near residences without public hearings.
As long as all those issues are addressed, there is adequate community engagement, the public is informed before hearings are held, environmental controls are in place, and ratepayers aren’t bearing the cost, he says, “there is a business case for data centers to be done under the correct circumstances.”
A dangerous world
Forrest also has deep concerns about the growth of surveillance across the country and the world. “Everything that we do is tracked and monitored. Our own personal information and data is now a tradable asset that can be bought and sold by companies.”
“I am not in favor of any tools that can be used for mass surveillance,” he says, and for that reason, he thinks Fairfax County should get rid of its Flock Safety automated license plate readers.
“There have been some concerning stories of police officers elsewhere using them for nefarious purposes,” he says. “Imagine Flock cameras in the hands of a killer. Imagine they’re in the hands of someone worse than Trump.”
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“We’re living in a dangerous period. We have a fascist in the White House. We have the threat of AI taking over people’s lives and possibly the government,” he says. “I am nervous about the future.”
“I am so concerned, I’m ready to upend everything in my life to get involved,” he says. “But I’m not letting it paralyze me or turn me to despair. It’s motivating me to get involved, to be a part of the solution, and to be part of change.”
“Vivian Watts has been a good, strong Democrat for a number of years,” Forrest says. “She’s really knowledgeable. She has a lot of experience. And she’s done a great job for our community and our commonwealth.”
“That being said, I think we need a person who’s right for this moment, who addresses the concerns that I’ve talked about, who has worked with and understands artificial intelligence, who wants to instill transformative change to our campaign finance system,” he says. “I want to be part of that change.”
Forrest is hosting a campaign kickoff event Nov. 14, 6-8 p.m., at Garden Social, 4363 John Marr Drive, Annandale.