71-year-old Sen. Mark Warner says this is his last time running for Congress
11 days ahead of the midterm elections, Virginia Sen. Mark Warner said this will be his last time running for office.
The soon-to-be 72-year-old Democrat, who has been in politics for a quarter of a century, is being challenged for his seat by retired Army Major General and Republican political newcomer Bert Mizusawa.
Gen. Mizusawa grew up in Hampton Roads, lives in McLean, and acknowledges that challenging Mark Warner for his U.S. Senate seat is an uphill battle.
“We have some long-term problems that we need some long-term thinking to address and I think we tend to put bandaids on things. So, given my experience, on the bleeding edge of our military operations, which are some of the more difficult, more expensive operations, I decided that it was too tough for me to sit on the sidelines,” Gen. Mizusawa said.
Mizusawa said if elected he would make addressing the national debt crisis a priority and working toward U.S. energy independence. He believes President Trump would listen to him, particularly on issues like national security and the war in Iran.
“The president has better information than we do. Let’s agree on that. You don’t have that information,” Mizusawa responded when asked about the U.S. involvement in Iran. “I actually have been read into the war plans on Iran when I was on the Joint Staff, around the 2012 era, and the one thing I know is the president is going to have the latest and best information, and the die is cast on Iran right now. We can’t roll the clock back on it, so I think the president deserves our support.”
Sen. Warner disagrees. “This is a war of choice,” he said of the conflict.
The incumbent is seeking his third term in the Senate, having first been elected to office as Virginia’s governor in 2001.
Warner has more than $27 million in fundraising compared to Mizusawa’s $1,1 million, according to the latest campaign finance data from the Virginia Public Access Project.
The senator said he is focused on affordability. “You shouldn’t have to leave your hometown to find a good job and we’ve not really made that promise a full reality.”
“The infrastructure bill, I got 62 billion dollars for broadband and if we don’t get to 99%, 98% penetration in two years it won’t be lack of money, it’ll be a failure of execution,” Sen. Warner responded when asked why Virginians should reelect him.
On artificial intelligence, the two candidates see industry regulation much differently.
“You wouldn’t climb on an airplane if only the airlines regulated it. So, there needs to be safety,” Sen. Warner said. “In the next five years, there’s gonna be huge job dislocation and these companies need to help contribute to how we get through and train people for AI related jobs.”
“We have a lot of good industry standards out there, voluntary standards, that people agree to, and I think this is a good first step before we try to legislate some guardrails,” Gen. Mizusawa responded.
Early voting in Virginia this cycle has been tremendous, with nearly 1 million ballots already cast ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections, nearly double the turnout at this point in 2022.
