The Midterm Race Could Determine the Fate of Federal Employees
Democrats have been striving to take Congress from the Republicans. However, it seems like as they do that, something unusual has been happening which may determine the control of the Congress in a. This is the federal workforce.
One of the most contested races in the midterm elections is Virginia’s 10th congressional district. Currently, the position is represented by Republican Barbara Comstock, but things might change. Virginia is the home of thousands and thousands of federal employees whose fate will be determined by whoever gets the majority votes.
There is no doubt that this is a tight race and you cannot tell for sure who among the two contestants have a more significant advantage. Comstock, a republic contestant, strongly believes that she has a better advantage over Jennifer Wexton, her Democratic opponent. She hopes and believes that her transparency and excellent record since she got in office three years ago will help her gather lots of votes and support from the civil servants. This is based on the kind of support she received in the 115th congress whereby she won 88% score from the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association and also, in the past two years she has been among the top ranks for any republicans.
This republican secured the position with the majority vote in 2016 after the retirement of Frank Wolf, an outspoken Republican, and defender of federal employees for 34 years. Comstock believes that the outspoken reputation of her party is the main reason why she expects maximum support from the federal workers. She added that if it were not for the Republican’s hard work, probably the workers would have never received a pay raise.
This campaign has not been easy, and the candidates have spent over $10 million to fund the campaign. Comstock has gone out of her way to talk about issues affecting federal employees in different occasions such as in ads, campaign mailers and most of her speeches on the trail and even more; she has dedicated a part on her website to talk about the issue. This is unlike Jennifer Wexton who has done none of this, which has lead Comstock to claim that her opponent is giving little attention to this segment.
Wexton has also been seen declining the number of interview request, but in a certain debate, she talked about her support for the federal employees and how she was against Trump’s freeze proposal. She claimed that the proposal was an unfair attack on the workforce. She had also made a tweet that attacked both Trump and Comstock and their attempt to pay for the bill that the Republicans had passed about tax reforms. She has on several occasion tried to connect the two persons and how Comstock was always the most prominent supporter on trump’s agendas, but Comstock attempted to prove this wrong when she openly challenged the president during a White House meeting on immigration issues, to show her undying support to the federal workforce.
What’s more? Comstock called one of the best health plan models, Federal Employees Health Benefits Program and pledged to support Trump governance on civil service reforms only when the ideas are for the best of the of federal workers. She added that the only way forward is to work with federal employees and involve them in looking for a solution, claiming that the federal employees are proficient since they understand where the biggest problem is and what needs to be rectified, unlike an individual coming in from a top political position.
