Walkinshaw and Whitson clash over DOGE

Congressional candidates James Walkinshaw and Stewart Whitson clashed on just about every issue – DOGE, ICE detentions, climate change, school vouchers – that came up during a debate on July 28.

The two candidates are vying in a special election for the 11th District seat formerly held by the late Rep. Gerry Connolly. Early voting started July 25.

Walkinshaw, the Democratic candidate, represents the Braddock District on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and spent 11 years as Connolly’s chief of staff. Whitson, a Republican, is an Army combat veteran and former FBI agent who is currently working as a lobbyist to advance Trump policies.

Speaking before a raucous crowd at the Reston Community Center, Whitson said his priorities are parental rights, lowering taxes, cutting wasteful spending, safe streets, and keeping boys out of girls’ sports.

Related story: Whitson wins Republican Primary for Congress

Walkinshaw’s priorities are reducing the costs of healthcare, higher education, and homebuying, and investing in clean, cheap, renewable energy.

The question for the 11th District, Walkinshaw said, is “do we want someone who will fight for our community, our residents, and small businesses or someone who views the job as being Trump’s ally?”

DOGE and federal workers

Walkinshaw wants to dismantle DOGE, while Whitson wants to make DOGE a permanent part of the federal government.

“I’m running for Congress because our community is under attack by the Trump administration,” Walkinshaw said. The reckless, indiscriminate DOGE job cuts are impacting our friends and neighbors every day.”

“My opponent is an architect of DOGE,” Walkinshaw said. “He said recently he agrees with Trump on everything. He can’t think of anything with which he disagrees with Trump.”

When asked how he would help laid-off federal workers, Whitson said he would help them find other jobs. “People in the FBI, CIA, can bring a wealth of experience to the private sector.”

Walkinshaw countered, “If you want to help federal workers who lost their job or those thousands who are about to lose their federal job, you can stop advocating to make DOGE permanent.”

He urged Whitson “to support the Delete Doge Act, as I have, to put an end to this chaos.”

“Our friends and neighbors have been recklessly fired,” said Walkinshaw, who vowed to work to restore civil service protections.

“There’s no distinction being made between low and high-performers by DOGE and the Trump administration,” he told Whitson. “They are indiscriminately firing the very people you say you have sympathy for. You could denounce this but first and foremost, you are Donald Trump’s ally.”  

Climate change and energy

When asked about climate change, Whitson said, “We have to be rational. We can’t get so fixated on one issue – climate – that we forget about the economy or national security.”

Whitson’s solution calls for more support for nuclear energy. He said, “Solar and wind power are unreliable and take up massive amounts of land.”

Walkinshaw said, “The best thing we can do to address the climate crisis at the federal level is to appeal the reconciliation bill that Congress recently passed. That bill slashes investments in cheap, clean, renewable energy.”

The reconciliation bill will drive up electricity costs for the average Virginia household by $420 a year, he charged. “So, we’ll pay more, our air will be dirtier, and our water will be dirtier.”

Walkinshaw led efforts on the Board of Supervisors to make the county carbon-neutral by 2050. That can be done by investing in renewable energy and retrofitting buildings, which has saved taxpayers millions of dollars a year, he said.

ICE actions

In response to a question about the actions of ICE agents pulling people off the streets, Whitson talked about the U.S. having an open border during the Biden administration that let in violent MS-13 gang members.

Fairfax County is the safest large jurisdiction according to an association representing chiefs of police, Walkinshaw noted. “That’s because we focus on community policing and partnering with everyone in our community, including immigrant communities.”

“Federal immigration enforcement should focus on the small number of people who are undocumented and are committing violent crimes,” he said. It should not be focused on rounding up law-abiding members of our community. Sixty percent of those detained by ICE in our region have not been arrested or charged with any crime.”

School vouchers

Whitson supports eliminating the U.S. Department of Education, although he said there are some circumstances where the federal government needs to step in, such as schools serving Native Americans.    

Since the Education Department was created in 1970, Whitson said, test scores started going down. “It was a failed experiment.”

Instead of giving federal money to schools, Whitson suggested giving money directly to parents in the form of vouchers that could be used for private school tuition.

Related story: Walkinshaw wins Democratic Primary

The voucher scheme touted by Whitson has been tried in several states, Walkinshaw said. “What happens is that wealthy families get their private school tuition paid. Private schools should not get taxpayer dollars unless they are accountable to the taxpayers and unless they agree to accept every child. They often do not accept children with special needs.”

Further, it’s not just Native American schools that are funded by the Department of Education, he said. “Title I schools right here in Fairfax County receive funding from the Department of Education. All of that is at risk when Donald Trump and Stewart Whitson want to dismantle the Department of Education.”

Social Security

“The best way to keep Social Security solvent is to promote work over welfare,” Whitson said. “There are millions of able-bodied adults sitting on the sidelines and not engaging in the workforce.” He blamed the Left “for pushing welfare on people who don’t need it.” The disabled and elderly need help, “not people sitting on the couch playing video games.”

“That is an outrageous thing to say,” Walkinshaw shot back, urging Whitson to talk to some of the thousands of federal employees who are out of work and are suffering.

Walkinshaw said the tax on Social Security is capped by the same amount for a billionaire as for a two-income family in Fairfax County. “A billionaire can afford to pay a little more to ensure that Social Security will remain solvent for generations to come.”

“The hardest-working people in our community are immigrants,” he added. “We should welcome immigrants who want to work and pay into Social Security. Rounding them up, scaring them, and encouraging them to self-deport is self-defeating when it comes to the solvency of Social Security.”

The federal deficit

The deficit is exacerbated by Trump systematically dismantling the Internal Revenue Service, Walkinshaw said. “That is making it impossible for the IRS to identify tax cheats, including very wealthy people and large businesses who are not paying their fair share of taxes.”

A small investment in the IRS to restore its capabilities would generate a significant amount of revenue, he said.

However, the most important way to reduce the deficit and pay down the debt is to repeal the “big beautiful bill,” Walkinshaw said. According to the Congressional Budget Office, it’s adding $3.4 trillion to the deficit, he noted.

If you’re a conservative who’s angry about the deficit and the debt, you should be outraged by this bill, because it is going to explode the deficit and debt,” he said.

Whitson called the CBO analysis “swamp math.” He acknowledged the deficit is a big problem and said the way to fix it is to “rein in reckless spending” and promote growth by reducing taxes.