Editor’s notes:

*Eminent domain is the power to force the sale of private property for public use, even if the property owner does not want to sell, provided the owner is compensated. It is most commonly exercised by governments, but private utilities can be granted the authority for some projects. Eminent domain authority for large-scale utility projects generally rests with state regulatory agencies. The federal government has occasionally attempted to bypass state denials, but those efforts were generally struck down in court. In 2021, Congress responded by passing the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which clarified the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s authority over certain high-priority transmission corridors. 

** View details on Perriello’s campaign finances on the Federal Election Commission website.

*** View details on Rep. McGuire’s campaign finances on the Federal Election Commission website.

**** Perriello is likely referring to H.R. 1, dubbed the “one big beautiful bill” by President Donald Trump and enacted July 2025. H.R. 1 extended the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act’s 100% bonus depreciation. Americans for Tax Fairness, a progressive coalition, found that 100% bonus depreciation for equipment will cost $363 billion. Depreciation refers to a tax deduction that permits manufacturers to write off the cost of investments that pay off over time, such as machinery and equipment. The extension of the depreciation deduction applies to all manufacturers, not just data centers.

***** The Microporous lithium‑ion battery separator manufacturing facility is “expected to create more than 1,800 new jobs in Southside Virginia,” per a joint press release from the City of Danville and Pittsylvania County released on May 22, 2026. In a piece from Virginia Business published the same month, Microporous confirmed the estimated total of full-time jobs is 1,832, down from the original estimate of 2,015.  

Editor’s notes:

*The U.S. and China are competing over AI development and related technological advances, according to reporting from the Associated Press and others. AI systems require a large amount of hardware and physical infrastructure in order to function, some of which is housed in data centers. In Virginia, which has the most data centers of any state, the accelerated growth of AI and data centers has led to concerns over noise, water use, electricity use, long-term health effects and costs for consumers, according to research from the World Resource Institute. Data centers create jobs, primarily in the data processing and telecommunications sectors, but generally fewer jobs than advocates claim, according to a 2026 study from the Brookings Institute, a nonprofit policy research group. The study also found that wages did not increase and home prices in the surrounding areas rose 2%-5%.

**McGuire was one of 42 co-sponsors of the Ratepayer Protection Act, introduced by Rep. Gabe Evans, R-Colo. The bill would require utilities and state utility regulators to consider implementing a standard under which non-residential “large-load” customers would be responsible for costs related to generation and transmission of power needed to serve them. The bill passed the house, with McGuire voting in favor, but has not yet been taken up by the Senate.

***McGuire wrote a letter to Gov. Abigail Spanberger asking her administration to stop the Valley Link transmission from moving forward, citing concerns over property rights and farmland, which was confirmed by Cardinal News. The proposed high-voltage transmission line, built largely in response to growing electricity demand from data centers according to Charlottesville Tomorrow’s reporting, would cut through more than 100 miles of mostly agricultural and forested land from Campbell to Culpeper County in central Virginia.

Editor’s notes: 

*This refers to the 21st Century Road to Housing Act, which passed Congress with bipartisan support in July and became law despite President Trump refusing to sign, as reported by NPR. Read more about what the bill does in this report from the Bipartisan Policy Center.

**Among other things, The 21st Century Road to Housing Act streamlines regulations for homeowners, gives more funding to communities that build more housing and restricts corporate landlords from purchasing single-family homes if they own more than 350. The Bipartisan Policy Center breaks down the contents of the 21st Century Road to Housing Act.

***The International Residential Code, created by the nonprofit International Code Council, defines tiny homes as dwelling units that are 400 square feet or less in size. An article from HomeAdvisor says that tiny homes cost an average of $45,000 to build. By contrast, the National Association of Homebuilders estimates that the average home in the United States in 2024 cost $428,215 to build.

Editor’s notes:

* Ninety-eight percent of residential land in Virginia allows single-family housing “by right,” which means it can be approved without a public hearing or special review, while 5% of residential land allows developments with four or more homes by right, according to the 2025 Zoning Report: Virginia by the National Zoning Atlas. The report states that “in reserving most of its land for large-lot single-family housing, Virginia has created a regulatory environment favoring low-density neighborhoods.”

**According to this report on 60 cities across the nation published by researchers at the University of Chicago and Princeton University in September 2026, building permitting duration is strongly associated with higher housing prices and negatively associated with housing production, and the report estimates that permitting duration doubled between 2000 and 2023.

***Construction costs rose 8.9% between August 2025 and August 2026 driven by the Iran War and costs from tariffs, according to a report from the industry group the Associated General Contractors of America.

****A tariff is basically a tax on imported goods. According to the industry group the National Association of Home Builders, there are multiple tariffs currently affecting the cost of home construction. A major contributor is a tariff on Canadian lumber and broadly tariffs on steel and aluminum. President Donald Trump, citing the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), enacted sweeping tariffs in 2025 with the stated purpose of boosting U.S. manufacturing and reducing a trade deficit. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in February 2026 that the president cannot impose tariffs under the IEEPA, but Trump has since pursued other legal means to put various tariffs in place, according to Poltifact. Trade relations with Canada worsened in August 2026 according to multiple news outlets, including the Associated Press, leading to higher tariffs on Canadian goods entering the U.S. 

Editor’s notes:

*Individuals and corporations pay capital gains taxes when selling investments, including homes and real estate. McGuire introduced H.R. 7051, the American Dream Act, which would make home sales — including rental or vacation homes — exempt from capital gains taxes if the seller is 65 or older, selling to a first-time homebuyer and the sale price is $500,000 or less. The bill was referred to the House Ways and Means Committee, and has not yet been put to a vote. Some organizations, including the Cato Institute, argue that lowering or eliminating capital gains taxes may increase housing supply, as it would encourage homeowners to sell housing without a tax penalty. Under current regulations, 95% of all households would not owe federal capital gains tax on a home sale, according to research from the Brookings Institute, a nonpartisan public policy research organization.

**McGuire introduced H.R. 7185, the Home Savings Act, which would allow for penalty-free withdrawals from retirement accounts if the money is used for a down payment or closing costs on a primary residence. It also exempts that money from being taxed as ordinary income. The same benefits apply if the home is purchased for an “eligible relative,” which includes a spouse, child, grandchild or ancestor. It would also allow for penalty-free withdrawals and eliminate the gift tax on funds gifted to a relative as long as the money was used for a down payment or closing costs on a primary residence. Read more from the National Association of Plan Advisors, an industry group for plan advisors and other retirement industry professionals.

***McGuire voted in favor of The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which made sweeping changes in many housing policy areas and became law in July 2026. (Read more about the bill from the Bipartisan Policy Center and Stateline, a nonprofit newsroom).

Editor’s notes:

*Redistricting, even mid-decade, is not unconstitutional. States redistrict every 10 years to keep district populations aligned with the most recent U.S. Census counts. Since last summer, 10 states have changed their congressional maps mid-decade, a rate not seen since the 1800s, according to tracking from the National Conference of State Legislatures. Gerrymandering is more contested. Racial gerrymandering, which Ballotpedia describes as “the practice of drawing electoral district lines to dilute the voting power of racial minority groups,” is restricted by the Voting Rights Act of 1965. But partisan gerrymandering is not mentioned in the Constitution and different states have different laws around it, as NPR reports. In the summer of 2025, Texas kicked off a nationwide redistricting battle after it redrew its congressional maps to favor conservatives at Trump’s request, according to reporting by the Texas Tribune. In Virginia, voters approved a referendum to redraw congressional districts to favor Democrats in a special election in April. However, the Virginia Supreme Court struck down the referendum, citing procedural errors in how the Democratic legislature handled the process. Read more from this Charlottesville Tomorrow article.

**This is the final line of the Pledge of Allegiance.

Editor’s notes:

*In April 2025, President Trump declared a state of emergency and imposed sweeping tariffs without the approval of Congress. The Constitution gives Congress the power to impose tariffs and delegate powers to the President to impose or adjust tariffs. In February 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Trump exceeded his authority and was not authorized to impose the tariffs, according to reporting from The Guardian and other outlets. Perriello is likely referencing these estimates from this March 2026 report published by the Joint Economic Committee – Minority, which said “American families will pay more than $2,500 each in tariff costs in 2026.”

**Perriello might be referencing an estimate made by Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, published in this report by NBC News. Zandi told the news organization that increased prices for gas, groceries, other modes of transportation and higher insurance rates related to the war in Iran are costing the average U.S. household $1,200.

***Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution grants Congress the power to declare war. The War Powers Act from 1973 reaffirms this constitutional authority.

****The Trump administration made several changes to research grants and funding at the National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Institutes for Health (NIH) which have affected research and staff at the University of Virginia. For example, in February 2025, the Trump administration implemented a broad cap on “indirect expenses” covered by the NIH that impacted medical research at UVA. Read more about how the administration reshaped research funding from NPR and the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law. Trump also pressured public universities across the country to sign the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education in exchange for continued federal funding. The compact included sweeping changes to higher education policies, read more about those changes in this article from Inside Higher Ed. UVA elected not to sign the compact, but instead signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, the first public university to voluntarily enter such an agreement. Under the arrangement, UVA will follow the Trump administration’s stricter interpretation of the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision ending race-based admissions among other concessions that limit diversity, equity and inclusion programs. UVA must also submit quarterly compliance updates to the DOJ. Before the agreement was signed, the federal government cut millions in grants at the university. According to a statement from UVA, 46 grants were terminated, of which 9 were fully reinstated and one partially reinstated as of June 22. The remaining terminated multi-year grants totaled $74 million, according to UVA. In several cases where the Trump administration moved ahead with funding cuts, federal courts have consistently ruled these actions unlawful. For example, in January, a court of federal appeals ruled that the NIH violated federal law when it cut funding for “indirect expenses.” Read more about that in this Reuters report.

*****Here are the results of the 1789 U.S. House of Representatives election, when James Madison represented the 5th District. According to the National Constitution Center, “because of James Madison’s crucial role in crafting much of the Constitution, he is often referred to as the ‘Father of the Constitution,'” although “many others besides James Madison made important contributions.” 

Editor’s notes:

*McGuire is a member of the House Oversight Committee, which is tasked with ensuring the efficiency and accountability of the federal government and federal agencies. Typically, members are nominated by their party and confirmed by a vote on the House floor, and the ratio of Democratic and Republican members is similar to the makeup of the House overall.

**DOGE refers to the Department of Governmental Efficiency, which was created by President Donald Trump and temporarily led by Elon Musk. It spearheaded mass federal layoffs and cuts to various federal programs and budgets with the stated goal of improving efficiency. The agency officially shut down in July 2026 and attracted backlash from federal judges, some lawmakers and federal employee unions due to its lack of transparency, cuts to the federal workforce and unauthorized access and mishandling of U.S. citizens’ private data, according to reporting by The Hill, Axios, The New York Times, Politico, NPR and others. The Congressional DOGE caucus is a bipartisan group of House lawmakers with a stated goal of leading efficiency initiatives. (There is also a Senate DOGE caucus, which consists of only Republicans.) After public backlash surrounding DOGE, membership in the caucus declined in 2025, according to reporting from Politico.

***McGuire served in the U.S. Navy for 10 years, including as a member of the SEAL (Sea, Air and Land) team, the Navy’s special operation force, according to his official Congressional biography and reporting by Politico and others.

Editor’s notes:

*Financial distress is a primary reason for hospital closure, according to studies from the Commonwealth Fund and the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Different analyses identify different causes for the financial struggles. Reporting from Reuters points to federal cuts to Medicare and Medicaid;Time Magazine cites low reimbursement rates from private insurers; while the U.S. Government Accountability Office cited aging infrastructure and declining patient population.

**Studies find similar health outcomes between telehealth and in-person services, according to a 2023 analysis of 80 studies by the California Health Care Foundation, a nonprofit philanthropy whose mission is to expand healthcare access for Californians . An article from the Center for Healthcare Strategies, which partners with Medicare providers to design health care policies, noted that while telehealth expands healthcare access for people without reliable transportation, barriers remain, particularly for those without reliable access to the internet.

***Reporting from the Center for Health Journalism suggests that high costs of medical education can be a barrier for people considering careers in healthcare. The report found that in 2024, 71% of medical school graduates were in educational debt, half of which owed more than $200,000. There are loan repayment programs for health care providers that attempt to mitigate those costs, such as the Virginia State Loan Repayment Program and those offered by the Health Resources & Services Administration. 

Editor’s notes:

*Perriello represented Virginia’s 5th District from 2009 to 2011. He ran for office again in 2010 but lost to Republican Robert Hurt. Perriello has publicly blamed his decision to vote yes on the Affordable Care Act as the reason he lost that election, adding that he doesn’t regret the decision. Read his opinion piece on this topic published in the Los Angeles Times.

**Charlottesville Tomorrow could find no record that Perriello wrote any amendments that became part of the Affordable Care Act, and a request to clarify this with Perriello’s campaign was not answered by publication time. On Nov. 7, 2009, during the final floor debate for H.R. 3962, which was introduced in the House as the Affordable Health Care for America Act, Perriello participated in a “colloquy,” which is a scripted dialogue between members of Congress that is meant to clarify the intent of pending legislation or to bring attention to a specific issue. According to the Congressional record, Perriello said, “I just want to clarify for the record that maternity care is a required benefit in the essential benefits package for all individual insurance and employer insurance across the country.” He also added, “And it is my understanding that prenatal and postnatal care is generally considered to be part of maternity care, as recognized by organizations such as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.” However, it was the Senate version of the Affordable Care Act, H.R. 3590, that ultimately became law.

***When enhanced premium tax credits expired at the end of 2025, premium payments for Affordable Care Act Marketplace enrollees increased by an average of 58% from $113 to $178 per month, found KFF. 

****Perriello’s campaign confirmed that he is referencing H.R. 1, sometimes referred to as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” here, which cut approximately $1 trillion in Medicaid funding. John McGuire voted in support of H.R. 1. It’s unclear which part of H.R. 1 Perriello is referencing when he says it gave insurance companies “more power to deny and delay care.” Charlottesville Tomorrow followed up, but did not receive a response by publication.

Editor’s notes:

*The U.S. spends more on healthcare per person than other large wealthy nations and pays higher prices for the same prescription drugs and hospital procedures, according to data from KFF, an independent health policy organization. Many factors contribute to this. KFF’s analysis included the U.S.’s relative lack of regulation or negotiation of drug prices; the way the U.S. healthcare system is spread across private and public payers; and rising rates of chronic conditions in the population. An article from USA Today points to seven causes of rising healthcare costs, including lack of price limits, high specialist salaries and the increasing influence of private equity in healthcare. 

**Many studies have found that rural hospitals are facing a funding crisis. Compared to urban hospitals, rural hospitals have more patients that use Medicare or Medicaid, instead of private or employer-sponsored insurance, as shown in this Rural Policy Brief from the University of Iowa’s RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis. This has multiple implications. On the one hand, Medicare and Medicaid typically reimburse less than private health insurers, meaning rural hospitals can lose money on procedures, as the Commonwealth Fund reports. On the other hand, cuts to Medicaid from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act can make rural hospitals’ financial situation more precarious, as a report from the American Hospital Association suggests.

***In August, 2026, John McGuire toured a Central Virginia Health Service facility in Buckingham County with Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, as CBS 19 News reported. Earlier that month, McGuire campaigned with U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. in Danville, Virginia, as the Roanoke Times reported.

****John McGuire voted for H.R. 1, also known as the Working Families Tax Cut or the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a budget reconciliation package that passed in 2025. HR1 cut federal spending on healthcare programs like Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act to offset the cost of expanding expiring tax cuts. The health policy organization KFF reports that to mitigate the funding loss, the law created a Rural Health Transformation Fund, “which will award $50 billion in state grants from 2026 to 2030 to support rural health care,” of which Virginia will receive $189 million per year for five years. According to KFF analysis, the grants would not fully offset the cuts to federal Medicaid spending in rural areas resulting from the same bill, which are estimated at $137 billion over ten years. NBC 29 News also reports that the grant money may not be enough to offset the cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.

Editor’s notes:

*The U.S. Census Bureau has reported historically low inflows of migration to the U.S. during Donald Trump’s time in office. Only 32% of farmworkers were born in the U.S. or Puerto Rico, according to the 2021-2022 National Agricultural Workers Survey, run by the U.S. Department of Labor, meaning almost 70% are foreign-born. A 2025 report from the American Enterprise Institute, a public policy think tank, found that the agricultural industry, which relies heavily on migrant labor, could see short-term increases in food prices as immigrant populations decline. The American Business Immigration Coalition reports that food prices are rising due to immigration raids that worsen farmworker shortages. NPR has reported that farmers are desperate for more workers.

**The 4th Amendment of the Constitution protects people from “unreasonable searches and seizures” and requires probable cause for warrants.  

Editor’s notes:

*While “every community is a border community” is a common political slogan, federal regulations distinguish actual border communities by geography. Under federal law, the U.S. government grants expanded authority to immigration officials within a 100-mile border enforcement zone. Within this region, which encompasses entire border municipalities, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) can operate highway checkpoints, conduct warrantless searches, and run roving patrols that do not apply to interior U.S. communities. No portion of Virginia’s 5th Congressional District falls within the federal 100-mile border enforcement zone.

**The Migrant Protection Protocols, known informally as “Remain in Mexico,” is a policy that requires non-Mexican asylum seekers arriving at the U.S.–Mexico border to wait in Mexico for their asylum hearings in United States immigration court. Trump has attempted to reinstate the policy during his second term after it was ended in 2021 under the Biden administration, although its implementation has been challenged multiple times in court, according to a news release from the National Immigration Project. 

***Research overwhelmingly suggests that immigrants commit fewer crimes than native-born U.S. citizens. For example, a 2024 report from the U.S. Department of Justice found that “U.S.-born citizens were significantly more likely to engage in crime compared to immigrants, regardless of immigration status.” Read more research from the Migration Policy Institute; Criminology, an academic journal focused on studying crime; and PNAS, the peer-reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences.

****Research from the nonpartisan think tank Economic Policy Institute found that the fiscal impact of unauthorized immigration is positive at the federal level, since many unauthorized immigrants pay income taxes and social security taxes while being ineligible for government benefits. However, EPI noted that “without proper support, there can be negative impacts at the state and local levels, particularly in the short term,” such as budget strain in K-12 education. Read more on the impact of immigration on communities in this research review from the CUNY Institute of State and Local Governance and in this report on the impacts of mass deportation in Virginia from the Commonwealth Institute. 

Editor’s notes:

*Musk is CEO of Tesla and SpaceX. This quote comes from a seminar called “The Great AI Debate,” held at the Abundance Summit in 2024.

**This number reflects Cooke’s own estimates based on his research into retirement benefits and health insurance benefits for congressmembers. A congressional report released in 2023 recorded 619 retired congressmembers receiving federal pensions, with annual averages ranging between $45,276 to $84,504 depending on which retirement options they were covered by. Congressmembers receive employer-sponsored health insurance. The federal government can contribute between 72% – 75% of their health plan premium. 

Editor’s notes:

*Top donors for John McGuire’s campaign are listed by the Virginia Public Access Project.

** Perriello is likely referencing estimates from the Joint Economic Committee – Minority. In March 2026, they published a factsheet that said, “American families will pay more than $2,500 each in tariff costs in 2026.”

***Perriello is likely referencing this Senate Joint Economic Committee Minority report from Dec. 2025.

***Perriello might be referencing an estimate made by Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, published in this report by NBC News. Zandi told the news organization that increased prices for gas, groceries and other modes of transportation, along with higher insurance rates, related to the war in Iran are costing the average U.S. household $1,200.

****When enhanced premium tax credits expired at the end of 2025, premium payments for Affordable Care Act Marketplace enrollees increased by an average of 58% from $113 to $178 per month, found KFF.

*****Charlottesville Tomorrow asked the Perriello campaign how it got the $100 figure. The campaign added up three yearly costs: $2,500 for higher taxes, $1,200 for groceries and gas (see editor’s notes above) and $2,651. That comes to $6,351 a year, or about $122 a week. The $2,651 figure comes from data on the 5th District from Keep Americans Covered, a group of health and advocacy organizations. The group estimated that a family of four earning $66,000 a year in the district that received enhanced tax credits through the Affordable Care Act would pay an additional $2,651 annually without them. Families that earned more would pay more. Those tax credits expired at the end of 2025. The campaign found that data through a House Budget Committee Democrats search tool.

******In 2024 McGuire’s net worth was $1.17 million. It increased 33.33% to $1.56 million in 2025, according to Quiver Quantitative, a company that tracks congressional stock trades and other public financial data.