David Beckwith: ‘To ensure that the federal government has as light a hand as possible’

David Beckwith is a Sterling-based Republican and former intelligence community worker seeking nomination in the party’s upcoming primary for Virginia’s 10th Congressional District, which Rappahannock County will join following redistricting.

Q: How should Congress support agritourism in small communities like Rappahannock?

A: That's a great question. I was just down in Fauquier County yesterday and a big concern they had was, they just see Washington D.C. moving down towards them as well. And I'm sure Rappahannock, that's a big concern of theirs as well.

A big push for what I'm trying to do as I run for congress is make sure that each state and each locality has the opportunity to make those decisions themselves. That's one of the big things I plan to be a champion of, to ensure that the federal government has as light a hand as possible terms of regulations, in terms of driving change into communities like Rappahannock.

I think there's a lot of opportunities when it comes to agriculture to look at helping to make sure that we have great places to sell the products that we develop. And that's definitely something that in Congress, I can work hard to do is to make sure that we've got robust buyers for all of the products that we grow in district 10.

Q: How can Congress help bring cell phone coverage to rural areas without cell towers to protect rural viewsheds?

A: I think there's a lot of opportunities for technology that offer different things. Elon Musk [and] his company Starlink is providing opportunities for potential cell coverage and internet coverage with just antennas. So there may be some technological solutions that are coming down the pike that can help with that. And then working with local communities to make sure that we bring cell towers we are developing a way that meets the local area's desires.

I think Rappahannock ought to be able to decide how they want to roll that out, whether there's an interest in something like a Starlinktype technology that potentially offers the opportunity to bring internet and cell service to more remote areas across the country. That's something that if the federal government is able to help, that would be good to have the local communities decide the right way to bring that into their county.

Q: Is there any way the federal government can incentivize service workers to relocate to rural areas like Rappahannock?

A: I have 30 years of Air Force experience, and I was in the intelligence community, I just resigned my job to run for Congress. With COVID, it really opened up the opportunity to look at different ways of doing work and telecommuting. That's shown us that it's very possible to incentivize telecommuting.

I know in Rappahannock an average commute is about 40 minutes. And there's a large number of people that drive out of the county to work. Through bringing better infrastructure for communications, we could do a lot more teleworking.

That's definitely something that the federal government can be prioritizing. It's something that has been underway. But even in local companies that I work with and have talked to, COVID has really opened up the opportunity for teleworking. That would allow people to move further out from cities and live in more rural areas where they would have better access to nature and things that they love to do.

Q: What role, if any, should Congress play in supporting small family farms?

A: We should be supporting all the farms, and agribusinesses obviously have a role to play in providing agricultural products that help feed the nation, because the smaller farms are just as important.

We saw in COVID, when we looked at the ability to continue to provide food supplies, that the smaller farmers play a critical role in making sure that happened. There's definitely an opportunity for the federal government to make sure that all forms, all sizes of business and agriculture are able to be sustained through COVID.

Q: How would you address a lack of housing and affordable housing stock in Rappahannock and other similarly situated rural communities?

A: I feel that first hand myself. I have a daughter who lives very close to me — she actually lives upstairs in one of my rooms in my house with her husband, because they haven’t been able to find a house to buy. They put in multiple bids, and were very unsuccessful. So I feel that pain directly.

I think there's a couple things driving that. First is inflation, which is driving the cost of everything up. And that's something that the Biden administration and Representative Wexton have not done the job that needs to be done to hold inflation down. Additionally, a lot of regulations are driving a lot of extra cost and preventing homes from being built. We really

need to look at directly deregulating some areas to allow more local communities and district 10 more time to have opportunities to build what the citizens want built and where they want to live.

Q: Does solar energy have a place in Rappahannock County?

A: I'm sure it could. I guess I would be looking for Dominion and the local communities to decide how much solar they want to get involved in. I would want to leave that up to the local community to decide. I suspect solar is not the best investment for Rappahannock County.

Q: How much environmental regulation is necessary to protect Rappahannock’s streams and waterways, many of which empty into the Chesapeake Bay?

A: There is regulation required. I would look for states and the Environmental Protection Agency as appropriate to make sure that waters meet standards and is getting to the Chesapeake Bay in a way that allows [the bay] to not have some of the issues it's had in the past.

Q: How will you balance the rural interests of Rappahannock and Fauquier voters against the suburban interests of Prince William and Loudoun counties?

A: Right now the entire district is very concerned about inflation. Getting energy flowing into the district is really important. Getting energy prices down, that really affects the rural and it affects the more suburban parts of our communities. As a matter of fact, that may affect some of the rural areas more with their long commutes, with the need to use a lot of farm equipment. There's a lot that holds the district together.

Some of the school issues that we have in Loudoun County may not be as pervasive into Rappahannock, but I think everyone is very concerned about making sure that we're educating, that we're focused on students. I'm a really big proponent of school choice. And that allows people to make sure that their children are getting the right education. Whether it's Rappahannock or Loudoun, I think everyone's very focused on making sure that the customers are the parents and that's who we're serving and that's who we're meeting [ the] needs [ of].

There's a lot of concern right now about where our country is, where it stands in the world, and where that stand has been impacted by our president and the policies that are coming out of a Democratic Congress.

There's a lot of patriotism, there's a lot of pride in our military, which I certainly feel from my 30 years of experience in the Air Force. And I think that there's a lot of concern about ensuring that we don't get pulled into a conflict over in Europe. That unites the district a lot more than it pulls it apart.