Rick Boucher ready to fight hard to keep seat

BY ROGER BROWN

BRISTOL HERALD COURIER

WYTHEVILLE, Va.  – U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher, D-9th District, told 350 Democratic supporters Sunday that he faces a tough battle for re-election in November, but he is prepared to fight hard to remain in Congress and keep working to bring progress to Southwest Virginia.

“It’s going to be an intense campaign,” Boucher said during the annual “Acres of Democrats” Rally at the Wytheville Meeting Center. But “we have been effective in delivering economic growth to Southwest Virginia.”

Seeking his 15th term, Boucher is being challenged by Morgan Griffith, a Salem Republican and majority leader in Virginia’s House of Delgates, in the Nov. 2 election for Boucher’s 9th District seat. Also on the ballot is independent candidate Jeremiah Heaton, a Washington County small businessman.

While polls currently show Boucher leading the contest, many neutral political observers also see the Boucher-Griffith race as a tight, competitive contest that could swing on voter turnout and enthusiasm. 

During his 20-minute speech to rally supporters, who munched on barbecue sandwiches, cole slaw and potato chips, Boucher appealed for fellow Democrats to turn out in huge numbers in November and noted his efforts to bring various improvements – including water services, broadband technology and new industry – to the 9th District.

“We have literally placed industrial parks all throughout Southwest Virginia,” Boucher said.

In a jab at Griffith, Boucher joked that his congressional staff had done “wind-testing” on his “Boucher for Congress” yard signs before distributing them to Democratic supporters.

 “We wanted to make sure they can stand up to all the hot air that’s going to be coming [from the other side],” Boucher said to laughter and applause.

Also appearing at the Wytheville rally was U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., who called Boucher a tireless fighter for Southwest Virginia’s residents and interests in Congress. Webb noted that his personal political hero was former President Andrew Jackson – and said Boucher is a legislator who is true to Jackson’s principles.

“Jackson said you measure your society not by the top of it, but by how the working people are doing,” Webb said. “There’s no one in the United States Congress who’s more in tune with that than Rick Boucher. And we have to work to keep people like Rick Boucher in Congress.”

In a Sunday evening phone interview, following his opponent’s rally, Griffith questioned Boucher’s effectiveness in bringing economic growth to Southwest Virginia.

“In comparison with the rest of Virginia, we haven’t been able to keep up at all in terms of adding jobs and economic growth,” Griffith said. “We’re lagging behind, in reality. So that’s a pretty clear sign that Rick Boucher hasn’t done a great job in helping bring jobs to the 9th District.”

Griffith also said Boucher’s overall voting record in Congress had consistently failed to reflect the values of Southwest Virginia residents.

“He votes with [U.S. House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi 97 percent of the time,” Griffith said of Boucher. “I think Rick Boucher will find that to be a problem for him in November.”

Griffith also has critiziced Boucher’s stance on the proposed cap and trade legislation, which would regulate greenhouse gases, including those produced by coal-fired power plants. Griffith has argued that the proposed legislation is a severe detriment to the coal industry. But Boucher has said that the regulation of greenhouse gases is inevitable; so he wants to be involved in shaping a law that is approved by Congress and more favorable to the coal industry and the jobs in Southwest Virginia than any rules the Environmental Protection Agency would develop.

rbrown@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2512