This election will be held on November 5, 2024. Incumbent Democrat Don Beyer Jr., Republican candidate Jerry Torres, and Independent candidates Bentley Foster Hensel and David R. Kennedy will face each other in the general election for Virginia’s 8th Congressional District. Congressman Don Beyer Jr. has served in the House of Representatives since 2015.
Incumbent Congressman Don Beyer is serving his fifth term as the U.S. Representative from Virginia’s 8th District. He served as Lieutenant Governor from 1990 until 1998. He was Virginia’s Democratic nominee for Governor in 1997.Rep. Beyer is the senior House Democrat on Congress’s Joint Economic Committee, and serves on the essential House Committee on Ways and Means. He is a member of the New Democrat Coalition’s Climate Change Task Force and the Congressional Progressive Caucus. He has served in a number of leadership roles both in business and for progressive causes. He lives in Alexandria with his wife.
On the Issues
⭐ Voted for Emergency Medical Services for Children Reauthorization Act of 2023
⭐ Voted for Action for Dental Health Act of 2023
⭐ Voted for Support for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act
⭐ Co-sponsor of Medicare for All and sponsor of the Choose Medicare Act because “I firmly believe in a future with universal healthcare”
⭐ Voted AGAINST Lower Costs, More Transparency Act in accordance with the wishes of the American Hospital Association, who wrote Speaker Johnson and Leader Jeffries in opposition of the bill for “site-neutral payment cuts” in the bill that would cut over $3.7B over 10 years to essential drug administration services.
⭐ Co-sponsored the Ensuring Access to Abortion Act of 2022
⭐ Voted for Women’s Health Protection Act of 2022, co-sponsored Women’s Health Protection Act of 2021
⭐ Repeatedly voted against politically motivated anti-abortion bills
⭐ Voted against politically motivated condemnation of Biden administration’s handling of the border
⭐ Voted against the Police Our Border Act
⭐ Voted against the politically motivated bills attacking immigrants
⭐ Voted for the Federal Prison Oversight Act
⭐ Repeatedly voted against politically motivated attacks on efforts to hold police accountable
⭐ Voted for Law Enforcement De-Escalation Training Act of 2022
⭐ Voted to protect and provide care for pregnant women in custody
⭐ Voted for the Mental Health Justice Act of 2022
⭐ Co-Sponsored and Voted for the Federal Extreme Risk Protection Order Act of 2021
⭐ Voted for the Family Violence Prevention Order Act of 2021
The Opposition
Incumbent Democrat Congressman Don Beyer is being challenged by Republican Jerry Torres, as well as Independents Bentley Hensel and David R. Kennedy. We could not find social media accounts or a campaign website for Jerry Torres. 🤔
Independent Bentley Hensel grew up in Louisiana and has since worked on campaigns to elect Democrats. He is a Sr. Data and DevOps engineer at CivicActions. He supports fair taxes and notes campaign finance reform as a priority. Hensel wants to establish a non-partisan panel of security experts, consumer advocates, and other experts to review data breaches and determine what must be done to counteract them and compensate their victims. Interestingly, Hensel lists Digital Gaming Rights as one of his key issues. Specifically, he is focused on the industry’s DRM (Digital Rights Management) issue. There are many issues in the games sphere, many of which have been highlighted and targeted by the EU. Hensley’s suggestions mirror some of the better policy that has been implemented in this arena. This is a niche issue, but it is one worth mentioning. Gaming is big business, and many of the worst, most predatory practices in the corporate world have gone largely unchecked in the gaming industry.
Independent David R. Kennedy was born in New Jersey. He is a recent graduate from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington D.C. and also has earned a Master’s in public policy studies from the University of Chicago and a Bachelor’s degree in economics from Lehigh University. He has worked in higher education financial policy and advocated for federal government support for medical research, science and technology for over thirty years. He is a ten-year resident of Northern Virginia and lives with his wife and their three cats. He supports the right to choose and advocates for affordable housing solutions and fair wages. Kennedy also looks to partnerships between schools, police, the criminal justice system, and the faith community to make our streets safe.
Recommendation (Note: Not an endorsement!)
Hensel’s policy proposals are undoubtedly progressive, but there are too few areas he discusses. We simply do not know his positions on some of the issues we most passionately advocate for, so we cannot fully recommend him. That said, he appears to have a good head on his shoulders and offers good advice for how to better tackle the growing tech industry and its problems.
What Kennedy has listed as his issues and priorities are all certainly progressive ideals. His career and life path prove that he has walked the walk as well. That said, he has too little information on too few things for us to truly know how robust his progressive ideals are. He is a progressive choice in this race, but we cannot fully recommend him for these reasons.
Rep. Beyer has a strong record as a progressive representative. He is a champion of healthcare rights across the board and for criminal justice. For these reasons, Representative Don Beyer is the progressive candidate in this race.
On the Issues
⭐ Voted for Emergency Medical Services for Children Reauthorization Act of 2023
⭐ Voted for Action for Dental Health Act of 2023
⭐ Voted for Support for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act
⭐ Co-sponsor of Medicare for All and sponsor of the Choose Medicare Act because “I firmly believe in a future with universal healthcare”
⭐ Voted AGAINST Lower Costs, More Transparency Act in accordance with the wishes of the American Hospital Association, who wrote Speaker Johnson and Leader Jeffries in opposition of the bill for “site-neutral payment cuts” in the bill that would cut over $3.7B over 10 years to essential drug administration services.
⭐ Co-sponsored the Ensuring Access to Abortion Act of 2022
⭐ Voted for Women’s Health Protection Act of 2022, co-sponsored Women’s Health Protection Act of 2021
⭐ Repeatedly voted against politically motivated anti-abortion bills
⭐ Voted against politically motivated condemnation of Biden administration’s handling of the border
⭐ Voted against the Police Our Border Act
⭐ Voted against the politically motivated bills attacking immigrants
⭐ Voted for the Federal Prison Oversight Act
⭐ Repeatedly voted against politically motivated attacks on efforts to hold police accountable
⭐ Voted for Law Enforcement De-Escalation Training Act of 2022
⭐ Voted to protect and provide care for pregnant women in custody
⭐ Voted for the Mental Health Justice Act of 2022
⭐ Co-Sponsored and Voted for the Federal Extreme Risk Protection Order Act of 2021
⭐ Voted for the Family Violence Prevention Order Act of 2021
The Opposition
Incumbent Democrat Congressman Don Beyer is being challenged by Republican Jerry Torres, as well as Independents Bentley Hensel and David R. Kennedy. We could not find social media accounts or a campaign website for Jerry Torres. 🤔
Independent Bentley Hensel grew up in Louisiana and has since worked on campaigns to elect Democrats. He is a Sr. Data and DevOps engineer at CivicActions. He supports fair taxes and notes campaign finance reform as a priority. Hensel wants to establish a non-partisan panel of security experts, consumer advocates, and other experts to review data breaches and determine what must be done to counteract them and compensate their victims. Interestingly, Hensel lists Digital Gaming Rights as one of his key issues. Specifically, he is focused on the industry’s DRM (Digital Rights Management) issue. There are many issues in the games sphere, many of which have been highlighted and targeted by the EU. Hensley’s suggestions mirror some of the better policy that has been implemented in this arena. This is a niche issue, but it is one worth mentioning. Gaming is big business, and many of the worst, most predatory practices in the corporate world have gone largely unchecked in the gaming industry.
Independent David R. Kennedy was born in New Jersey. He is a recent graduate from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington D.C. and also has earned a Master’s in public policy studies from the University of Chicago and a Bachelor’s degree in economics from Lehigh University. He has worked in higher education financial policy and advocated for federal government support for medical research, science and technology for over thirty years. He is a ten-year resident of Northern Virginia and lives with his wife and their three cats. He supports the right to choose and advocates for affordable housing solutions and fair wages. Kennedy also looks to partnerships between schools, police, the criminal justice system, and the faith community to make our streets safe.
Recommendation (Note: Not an endorsement!)
Hensel’s policy proposals are undoubtedly progressive, but there are too few areas he discusses. We simply do not know his positions on some of the issues we most passionately advocate for, so we cannot fully recommend him. That said, he appears to have a good head on his shoulders and offers good advice for how to better tackle the growing tech industry and its problems.
What Kennedy has listed as his issues and priorities are all certainly progressive ideals. His career and life path prove that he has walked the walk as well. That said, he has too little information on too few things for us to truly know how robust his progressive ideals are. He is a progressive choice in this race, but we cannot fully recommend him for these reasons.
Rep. Beyer has a strong record as a progressive representative. He is a champion of healthcare rights across the board and for criminal justice. For these reasons, Representative Don Beyer is the progressive candidate in this race.
Last updated: 2024-09-06
This election will be held on November 5, 2024. Incumbent Democrat Don Beyer Jr., Republican candidate Jerry Torres, and Independent candidates Bentley Foster Hensel and David R. Kennedy will face each other in the general election for Virginia’s 8th Congressional District. Congressman Don Beyer Jr. has served in the House of Representatives since 2015.
