David Henshaw's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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David Henshaw has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2023 Political Courage Test.
Virginia State Legislative Election 2023 Political Courage Test
| Pro-life | a) Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support legalizing abortion when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rapes? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support the prohibition of public funds (e.g. Medicaid) for organizations that perform abortions? | ||
| I am Pro-Life and opposed to allowing abortion without limits until birth and beyond. I support reasonable legislation like Governor Youngkin's proposal to restrict abortions after 15 weeks, except for situations involving rape, incest, or if the health of the mother is in danger. This respects every human life and provides protection for unborn babies and their mothers. I want to advance more care for women facing complicated pregnancy situations, and we need to support better maternal health care. Virginia has 41 pro-life pregnancy resource centers throughout the state. They offer free support, services, and medical care to pregnant women and their children. Unborn babies in the later weeks of pregnancy can feel pain and abortions after that point do cause them horrific pain as they are killed. The extremist agenda of Virginia Democrats, including my opponent, includes allowing abortion all the way up to the point of birth. | |||
| No | a) In order to balance the budget, do you support reducing state employee salaries AND/OR pensions? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support a decrease in income taxes in order to balance the budget in your state? | ||
| No | c) Do you support a wealth tax in order to pay for public programs in your state? | ||
| Government is too big. We need to cut spending and lower taxes---both individual and corporate. Overall, I support free-market policies that provide every Virginian with the freedom to determine their own economic outcomes and prosper accordingly I also support indexing Virginia's tax brackets to inflation. Our highest tax bracket (5.75%) starts at $17,000 and hasn't changed since 1990! Due to inflation, this is the equivalent of a 65% tax increase, without a single vote from the General Assembly. It's a regressive system, so as a compromise I propose a progressive system with new higher brackets (with lower top end tax rates) that are reasonable to high earners and also benefit lower- and middle-income tax filers. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support capital punishment for violent crimes? | ||
| No | b) Should an individual under 18 accused of a violent crime be prosecuted as an adult? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support the use of private prisons? | ||
| No | e) Do you support mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenders? | ||
| I stand by our law enforcement and first responders! Overall crime in 2022 was up across the Commonwealth, including a 17.8% increase in Arlington compared to the previous year. This is a direct result of police reform laws passed in 2020 that restricted police action in a number of circumstances, downgraded violations, and limited equipment available to law enforcement. We need to reverse these anti-police and "defund the police" legislation! Our biggest problem in Arlington (according to the Chief of Police crime report) and across the state is staffing of law enforcement officers--Arlington needs to add 100 officers to our current staff of 300. We can do that by increasing pay and benefits, repealing the 2020 laws that make their jobs harder, and improving morale by letting them know we support our Men and Women in Blue! | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support state government spending as a means of promoting economic growth (e.g. grants, tax incentives)? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support reducing state government regulations on the private sector? | ||
| No | c) Do you support an increase of the minimum wage of Virginia? | ||
| No | d) Do you support government spending on affordable housing projects in Virginia? | ||
| Again, I support free-market policies that provide every Virginian with the freedom to determine their own economic outcomes and prosper accordingly. Taxes are too high, and Virginia ending fiscal year 2022 with a $3.6 billion revenue surplus. Those funds belong to the tax-paying citizens of Virginia, not our government. Additionally, inflation continues to outpace wages and reduces our buying power. Our legislature should incentivize business development by lowering corporate taxes; promoting cheap, abundant, and reliable energy; and removing excessive regulation. Lower taxes attract more businesses and jobs---and more taxpayers to work at those jobs. Virginia competes with other states like Florida and North Carolina, our neighbor who has a 2.5% corporate tax rate and 4.75% top individual tax rate. Virginia has a 6% tax rate and a 5.75% individual tax rate. This helps explain why North Carolina had a net in-migration of over 100,000 new residents from other states, while Virginia had very little change. Energy policy also impacts whether businesses and people move to our state---the 2020 | |||
| No | a) Do you support adopting federal education standards (e.g. Common Core) in Virginia? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support state funding for charter schools? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support increasing teacher salaries AND/OR benefits in Virginia? | ||
| No | d) Should immigrants in the United States who graduate from Virginia high schools be eligible for in-state tuition at public universities, regardless of immigration status? | ||
| I support parental rights and the sanctity of the family. Parents know what is best for their children and will make the best choices regarding their upbringing, education, and care. The role of the government is to provide resources to give parents more options to educate their children. Schools should focus on teaching the basics of reading, writing, and math. Our state legislature should expand the law to explicitly enumerate the rights of parents. I support offering Education Savings Accounts that enable parents to use a portion of their tax money to invest in non-public options for their children. I support charter schools and school choice. I support banning males from participating in female sports and using female locker rooms. Our schools require parental notification before administering an aspirin----why would a school hide a child's struggle with gender dysphoria from a parent? Children need parental permission to watch a rated R movie---why would a school allow them access to R-rated content in their school library, without parental permission? A child needs permission before getting a tattoo---how can they decide to undergo gender change surgery? Why do only wealthy families have options for their children's education (private school, home school)? Shouldn't middle- and lower-income families have education options for their children---like a Charter School, and an Education Savings Account to subsidize other options? School choice has the added benefit of providing competition in our public schools, improving outcomes for all. | |||
| No | a) Do you support state funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, geo-thermal)? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support state governments allowing permits for drilling on public lands? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support increasing state funding for clean drinking water initiatives? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support repealing the State Air Pollution Control Board's authority to implement low-emissions and zero-emissions vehicle standards for vehicles with a model year of 2025 and later? | ||
| I support: - Repealing the 2021 'Clean Car' law that ties Virginia to California's mandates that 35% of all new cars and trucks sold in Virginia by 2026 model year be electric, and 100% electric by the 2035 model year. - Reversing the 2020 'Clean Economy Act', which mandates that Dominion Energy Virginia and American Electric Power produce their electricity from 100 percent renewable sources by 2045 and 2050 respectively. I also oppose RGGI, a carbon tax on businesses and consumers. RGGI is a regressive tax, hurting the poor families more through higher energy costs to operate their vehicles and air condition their homes. The goal of RGGI is to reduce carbon emissions, but proponents always tout the benefits from the taxes it receives. However, the funds received from RGGI can be sourced within the existing budget. Energy initiatives like the 2021 Clean Car law and 2020 Clean Economy Act do almost nothing to combat climate change while forcing higher prices for electricity, cars, and gasoline---again hurting the poorest in Virginia the most. Here is a good summary of my views on climate change (courtesy the Cornwall Alliance): - Earth's temperature naturally warms and cools cyclically throughout time, and warmer periods are typically more conducive to human thriving than colder periods. - While human addition of greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide (CO2), to the atmosphere may slightly raise atmospheric temperatures, observational studies indicate that the climate system responds more in ways that suppress than in ways that amplify CO2's effect on temperature, implying a relatively small and benign rather than large and dangerous warming effect. - Empirical studies indicate that natural cycles outweigh human influences in producing the cycles of global warming and cooling, not only in the distant past but also recently. - Computer climate models, over 95% of which point toward greater warming than has been observed during the period of rapid CO2 increase, do not justify belief that human influences have come to outweigh natural influences, or fears that human-caused warming will be large and dangerous. - Rising atmospheric CO2 benefits all life on Earth by improving plant growth and crop yields, making food more abundant and affordable, helping the poor most of all. - Abundant, affordable, reliable energy, most of it now and in the foreseeable future provided by burning fossil fuels, which are the primary source of CO2 emissions, is indispensable to lifting and keeping people out of poverty. - Mandatory reductions in CO2 emissions, pursued to prevent dangerous global warming, would have little or no discernible impact on global temperatures, but would greatly increase the price of energy and therefore of everything else. Such policies would put more people at greater risk than the warming they are intended to prevent, because they would slow, stop, or even reverse the economic growth that enables people to adapt to all climates. They would also harm the poor more than the wealthy, and would harm them more than the small amount of warming they might prevent. | |||
| No | a) Do you support the regulation of campaign contributions from corporations, unions, and individuals? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the use of an independent or bipartisan commission for redistricting? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support requiring a government-issued photo identification in order to vote at the polls? | ||
| No | d) Do you support automatic voter registration? | ||
| No | e) Do you support the implementation of ranked choice voting in Virginia? | ||
| My overarching view on the election process is that it should be easy to vote and hard to cheat. With that in mind and specific to Virginia, I would require photo ID for in-person voting, improve scrutiny of voter registration lists and verification of citizenship, remove vote harvesting, and restrict same-day registration. I voted for most of my 24 year military career via Mail-In ballot. If done correctly, it can be a safe and secure method of voting. However, there need to be stringent safeguards in place to protect the integrity of mail-in ballots. Main-in voting should be limited to people who cannot make it to their neighborhood polling places on Election Day, such as because they are sick, physically disabled, or serving the country abroad, or because they cannot make it to the polls for some other legitimate reason. I do not support Ranked Choice Voting (RCV). It is too complicated and takes away the voters choice between candidates. As the computer iteratively drops last place candidates and re-calculates using those voter's next listed candidate, it creates a situation where voters don't know who they actually voted for. Ultimately as the computer iterates down to the final two candidates, the voters were never given an opportunity to choose between them. We should keep our traditional system where in the absence of receiving a majority of votes, candidates with the two highest vote tallies face each other in a run-off election. That's the only way voters will be able to choose between those candidates. | |||
| No | a) Do you generally support gun-control legislation (e.g. red flag laws, boyfriend loophole)? | ||
| No | b) Should background checks be required on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support the right to concealed carry in Virginia? | ||
| I am Pro 2nd Amendment. I will OPPOSE all gun bans, including those on semi-automatic rifles, affordable handguns, and standard capacity magazines. I support fully funding our law enforcement and increasing the size of the force. I also support fully prosecuting offenders of gun crimes. The societal problems we face from gun violence are associated with criminal gun violence. The vast majority of lawful gun owners will not harm themselves or others with their firearms. I support 'Constitutional Carry' legislation that allows law-abiding citizens to carry handguns openly or concealed for any reason except for the commission of a crime. 27 other states have passed these laws. I am against Red Flag Laws, which strip a citizen of not only his right to keep and bear arms, but also his right to due process and presumes guilt in advance of a crime being committed. Virginia already has Temporary Detention Orders (TDOs) which involve mental health professionals and treatment. TDOs are sufficient, and I support removing the Red Flag bill the 2020 Democrats passed into law. | |||
| Yes | a) Should the state government increase funding for treatment facilities to combat opioid abuse? | ||
| No | b) Do you support a government-run (e.g. single-payer) healthcare program such as Medicare-for-All? | ||
| No | c) Should an individual have the right to choose to die (e.g. those with a terminal illness) through euthanasia? | ||
| No | d) Do you support eliminating religious exemptions for vaccinations? | ||
| No | e) Do you support expanding paid family AND/OR medical leave benefits (e.g. maternity leave)? | ||
| No | f) Should the government be able to regulate the cost of prescription drugs? | ||
| I believe we need to bring our health care system under the free market---putting patients and doctors in the driver?s seat, and making health care providers and insurance companies compete for customers. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support inclusion of sexual orientation in Virginia anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support the inclusion of gender identity in Virginia anti-discrimination laws? | ||
| No | c) Do you support greater efforts by the Virginia state government in closing gender, racial, and other wage gaps? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support requiring transgender athletes to compete intramural and interscholastic sports that match their sex assigned at birth in Virginia? | ||
| I oppose teaching Critical Race Theory in our schools. We should stick to the basics of reading, writing, and math. We shouldn't teach our children that they are victims or oppressors simply based on the color of their skin. It's a divisive ideology and should not be taught in our schools. I believe Dr Martin Luther King Jr was correct when he said "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." That day is now. I agree with Thomas Sowell who said ?A society that puts equality?in the sense of equality of outcome?ahead of freedom will end up with neither equality nor freedom. The use of force to achieve equality will destroy freedom, and the force, introduced for good purposes, will end up in the hands of people who use it to promote their own interests.? The government should have zero role in closing wage gaps---that's essentially picking winners and losers. Transgender males should not compete in high school women's sports. It's a matter of fairness. And they should not use high school women's locker rooms or bathrooms. It's a matter of safety, regardless of how small the chance of harm. | |||
| My top three priorities, as described in detail on the previous questions are: 1- Education 2- Cost of Living and Energy 3- Crime Solutions: Education- restore parental rights, provide school choice, and protect women. Cost of Living and Energy- lower taxes (corporate and individual) and remove regulations to promote growth, repeal Clean Car and Clean Economy laws, and cut spending. Crime- hire more law enforcement officers, restore laws that help them do their jobs. |
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