More than 200 people packed into a conference room at Westminster at Lake Ridge Wednesday night to hear from candidates running for the House District 2, Senate District 36 and House District 52 seats.
Former television journalist Matt Brock moderated the event that was sponsored by the Committee of 100.
Here is a snapshot of the House District 2 debate:
The two candidates for this new district couldn’t be any different. Mark Dudenhefer, a Republican, has served on the Stafford County Board of Supervisors for six years and he retired from the Marine Corps as a colonel after 30 years.
Esteban Garces, a Democrat, is the youngest candidate at age 30. He has never held political office and didn’t serve in the military. He works for a nonprofit as an advocate for marginalized communities.
The one thing they both share is the commute on Interstate 95, and they agreed that transportation is a big problem for their district that was moved from southwest Virginia to Prince William and Stafford counties. But they don’t agree on how they would try solving the district’s transportation woes.
The 2nd District is a byproduct of the redistricting this year and it runs east of Route 1 in Prince William County south into North Stafford.
Garces is a supporter of extending Metro’s Blue Line to the Woodbridge area and he was able to wrap his rail advocacy into almost every question he answered, even though the mostly elderly crowd did not seem to share his zest for rail. Garces said extending rail to the Woodbridge area would create more jobs, bring an influx of new revenue and reduce property taxes.
“If we have lower property taxes, we have more to spend,” Garces said.
When asked what programs, fees or taxes he would change to balance the state budget, Garces turned to extending the Blue Line once again—an answer that the moderator didn’t understand, so he gave Esteban another chance to answer.
“I’m sticking with my answer,” Garces said.
Garces also constantly tried to pin on Dudenhefer proof that he has been quoted in news articles supporting High Occupancy Toll lanes, which are unpopular in Prince William County. He used his closing arguments to read snippets from a newspaper article in which Dudenhefer seemed to express support for HOT lanes.
Dudenhefer often touted some road-building successes in Stafford County, where he is currently chairman of the Board of Supervisors. He said he isn’t for or against extending the Blue Line, but he fears the massive price tag.
“Somebody’s got to pay for that and I bet not many of you are going to ride on that Blue Line,” Dudenhefer said.
Dudenhefer said his opponent’s claim that extending the Blue Line would reduce property taxes is an indication of his inexperience because that would not happen. He said safe roads have been his mission as a Stafford County supervisor and he is a proponent of expanding the Virginia Railway Express commuter train that runs from Fredericksburg to D.C. every morning and back. Dudenhefer’s 17-year-old daughter, Emily Dudenhefer, was killed in a car crash in 2004 on a twisting country road in Stafford. He said he thinks more roads need to be widened and made safe, especially country roads, and that people should be able to access and exit Quantico in altering directions.
Dudenhefer and Garces both said they would relax rules for absentee voting so people wouldn’t need to have an excuse to vote absentee. Dudenhefer said that he had a difficult time voting when he was in the Marines and he believes that changes should be made that make it easier for those in the military and elderly residents. Garces agreed.
“We need to open the process so we don’t have restrictions on voting,” said Garces, who added that voters have told him they have missed the polls because of traffic.
Creating more jobs is a hot topic in the 2nd District. Garces said extending the Blue Line would create more jobs for the 2nd District.
Dudenhefer said that he supported abolishing the Business, Professional, Occupational License tax in Stafford County as a way to become more business friendly. The BPOL tax is levied on gross receipts, not profits, making it one of the most unpopular taxes in Virginia. The tax was created during the War of 1812 and it was never removed from the books.
“Put that in your pipe and smoke it,” Dudenhefer said.
He wants the state to give counties similar taxing powers that cities have. County governments must have a referendum to enact a new tax, such as a meals tax, and the General Assembly has to approve the referendum.
Garces asked Dudenhefer why he favors toll roads or the HOT lanes. Dudenhefer said he doesn’t like toll roads but they are coming anyway.
“We need to try and get the best deal that we can for Stafford and Prince William counties,” he said.
Dudenhefer asked Garces how the state would pay for all of the ambitious goals that Garces mentioned in his mailings, such as increasing funding for schools and building roads. But Garces didn’t answer the question and instead turned the discussion back to Metro, which brought a few sighs from the crowd.
The election is Nov. 8.
Articles about Garces:
Articles about Dudenhefer:
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