"Run the race your district needs" – Powers sets tone for Ninth District Congressional challenge

BEDFORD — Joy Powers has the Democratic nomination to run against incumbent Ninth District Republican Congressman Morgan Griffith. Despite recent news reports about the national GOP and Trump administration, Powers said on Wednesday that she plans to focus on issues with local impact on the Ninth's constituents.According to unofficial Virginia Department of Elections vote totals posted Wednesday, Powers got 9,379 votes — almost 52% of the district-wide primary total — to competitors Adam Murphy's 6,565 and Douglas Crockett's 2,203 votes.Registrars are waiting for any mail-in ballots post-dated by Aug. 4 that may not have arrived. The deadline for those ballots to be counted is noon Friday."What's really exciting was that we were dedicated to running a rural campaign," said Powers. "Now we have 90 days to unseat Morgan Griffith."Powers received support in messages and statements from Murphy and Crockett."Mr. Crockett reached out to me with an email last night, and I'm grateful for his graciousness," said Powers."I want to congratulate Joy on her hard-fought victory in this primary," Murphy said in a late-night statement. "… We all deserve so much better from our representative than we have had in Morgan Griffith."Murphy called on his supporters to support Powers in the campaign "as she continues to advance the fight for Southwest Virginia directly to Griffith. We have 91 days to get him out for good, and I intend to keep fighting for that future we all deserve."Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, Virginia U.S. Sen. Mark Warner and state Attorney General Jay Jones also called with congratulations, Powers said."Governor Spanberger gave this advice, "Run the race your district needs," said Powers. "While we may disagree on many policies, we agree that we need to run for our constituents."Powers cited the recent closing of eight rural health school clinics in the Ninth District — including clinics at schools in Washington and Smyth counties — as what she said was examples of Griffith's performance in Congress."We are seeing chaos and corruption in Washington, D.C., but Griffith didn't even know we were going to lose those clinics," said Powers. "I never found it cute when someone plays this kind of game."Acknowledging that the state's Democratic Party organization has not paid the kind of attention to Southwest Virginia that it has to contests in other parts of the state, Powers said she will focus on Griffith and issues that have direct impact on the Ninth's residents."There's not been a lot of investment or involvement from the party, but that also means they don't have the hooks in my campaign like in other areas," Powers said. "We've got 90 days to unseat Morgan Griffith."