2025 Virginia Candidates Speak With Local Residents

I'm going to be your host today, and I want to welcome everyone and thank you for participating in this event on a Sunday afternoon on a holiday weekend. So we really appreciate your being here. Hi everybody. My name is Mark Yang. I'm a local resident here at Fairfax, and I work as a China Ellis for a consultancy firm. And I also work as a researcher for the Taobing Information Center, where we document a lot of these persecution cases in China and also transnational repression cases around the world. So it really pains our heart to see that their lives are constantly under threat by disease and peace, violent, violent threats constantly. So all of these are extremely concerned. And finally, the U.S. is safe haven for freedom, and we must protect it. So in conclusion, that our community, we really hope our elected officials will stay informed, stay vigilant, and also act against the CCP small arms to defend our freedoms and to safeguard the community. Thanks much. My name is Adam Wise, and I'm running for the House of Delegates in District 11. That's primarily Fairfax City and Oakton. And my main campaign message is that it's your money. I want you to keep as much of it as possible. So I have primarily an economic freedom message. But really, here we're talking about the Chinese Communist Party infiltration in America. And really, oppression can happen in any country. I'm Sondra Davis, and I am running for the Virginia House of Delegates in District 15. My thing is no car tax. I also ran for school board in 2023, and that's how I got to know many of you. All the way from the children to our high taxes are things that I'm paying attention to, and I'm really happy to be here today. I got the recipe for the mango. I'm Cassandra Alcoyne, and I am running for delegate in District 7. And that is the district that is resting predominantly, a little bit of Oakton, and a little bit of Conrad. We had a joint resolution signed by 54 Virginia assembly people about the Falun Gong joint resolution. My opponent did not sign it, and I would have signed it. So that is a stark contrast between the two of us. My name is Richard Hayden. I'm running for the House of Delegates in House District 16, which is over in Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington. I can't imagine the harm it's causing you as fellow countrypersons from your former lands that's doing it. We can't have this. We just can't have it. And they track you here to America, and that's unacceptable. We decided to shake it up a little bit. My name is Ed McGovern. I'm running for delegate in the 18th District, North Springfield, so we're close by. I will stand for you. I will work to lower taxes. I will stand for women in their private spaces, girls who want girls' sports for girls. Stand with law enforcement, first responders. Please get involved. Pick a delegate campaign. Donate. Volunteer. Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Kristen Hoffman, and it's so nice to see some familiar faces. I, too, like Sandra, did some of the Falun Gong exercises, and my legs still don't feel the same. I believe the First Amendment, the one that guarantees freedom of religion, speech, and assembly, is one of the Constitution's most important amendments, as this is the amendment that protects our human rights. I'm also very sadly aware of the CCP's infiltration of the United States, as well as the persecution of the Falun Gong practitioners and the Uyghurs, among others. The forced slave labor and human trafficking in China is just a horror. We need to ensure that our government is physically responsible and financially accountable. We need to cut taxes. It's our money. It's not some bureaucrat's money to spend freely. Thank you. Good afternoon, everybody. My name is Ngan Nguyen. It's Nguyen from Virginia. The Chinese are really destroying America from within, and that's all we're not concerned. And I can assure you that the Democrats are not going to do a thing about it, but we are. We, the Republicans, are, and we will be your staunchest and strongest advocate. Thank you again. Obviously, I'm not a candidate here. I'm Eugene Lee. I'm here to represent the Office of the Attorney General, and that's Jason Villarez. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to make it out today. He's busy prosecuting criminals, as the Attorney General should do, over in Richmond. And also, one of the things I wanted to highlight that actually directly connects with the CCP in China is he's also been cracking down a lot on the flood of fentanyl and drugs that we're seeing coming into this country. And as the son of a Cuban refugee who fled communist Cuba, I think he knows very well the harm that socialist policies can have in our commonwealth, and he does not want to see that anytime soon. So hopefully with your support this November, we can continue seeing those great accomplishments happening in Richmond with the competent Attorney General that we have with the People's Protector, Jason Villarez. Thank you. And so I've spent a decade in the military. I was an Army combat veteran, but I also spent a decade in the FBI working these threats, so working Islamic terrorism, but also the Chinese threat, the threat from China. So I've seen first-hand how serious this is and how we have to deal with it. And what's the solution in a single word? Strength. I'm going to take two questions from the audience, and this can be directed to any or all of the candidates. Thank you so much for being here. One thing I'm really concerned about is the Chinese government's very, like, sneaky tactics using, for example, lawfare. Someone files a lawsuit against a refugee or a dissident group, like we're seeing these against Shen Yun, for example, it generates a lot of negative press. And I know it was also mentioned by a speaker earlier about even, like, anti-Falun Gong YouTubers saying, get the government to investigate. And then we saw from the video that they're actually arrested two people for bribing the IRS to go after Shen Yun to strip him of their not-for-profit. The Chinese Communist Party, they own all the media outlets, all the major ones, right? And so all those major media outlets just repeat their same talking points until it becomes the truth. And so we have to fight back against all that, stand up to it, hold people accountable. So those two people getting held accountable is he. And then we have to, again, it's a crime for libel or slander. And so if they're writing things that are untrue, that are ruining people's reputations, then we need to enforce that law as well. As a candidate, what's a concrete policy you will advocate to stop this kind of infiltration, this kind of propaganda? So we have to call this out for what it is, we have to put pressure to make it stop, and we have to keep people safe in our country. I'm James Walkinshaw. I was, for 11 years, Congressman Jerry Connolly's chief of staff. I've had the opportunity to work with many of the organizations here today in that capacity. And for the last almost six years, I've served on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. And I'm running for Congress to take my record and my experience to fight for our community. Well, I have a question. So as we watch that video, and these tactics that the CCP is using, what if you could speak to that, how we can deal with the new tactics? Well, I think you saw that with respect to the prosecutions that were referenced, you know, our best tool is to identify when anyone in the country, certainly anyone acting on behest or on behalf of a foreign government, is violating our laws. I am on the Falls Church City Council, and I'm running for my fourth term. And one of the things that is really important in Falls Church is the culture and the community that is Meeting Center. Hi, my name is Jerry Olmatt. I want to thank you all for being here and thank the Asian Community Services Center for putting together this Meet and Greet. This is my first time running, and I'm very excited to connect with all of you. I'm running as an independent. I won't stand up here and promise to have all of the answers, but I promise to work with this community and all of our communities to create the answers. It won't take all of us working together. Thank you all for your time. I hope to have your support this November. So, good afternoon. I'm going to try and keep this short. I'm Arthur Hagen, the other candidate here from Falls Church City. Oh, and for the one other person who can vote for us, you're allowed to vote for four people, so you can vote for both of us. It's great to be here to learn more about what your interests are and what you're wondering with dealing with the broader Falls Church community and how the city can be a better partner and a better part of the broader area. Slightly different perspective. I've been at it for a number of years. Welcome to the 14th House District, which is all of the Annandale, Zip Code, Lincolnia, plus other surrounding areas. A lot of data center based here and also defense industry based here. We have a lot of important universities, colleges, and so influence from the CCP is everywhere. We can feel that. So, just a moment there. How can we better raise the public awareness about this? So, I think this is actually a great place to start alongside making sure that we're holding our public officials accountable to talk about these issues. We face, again, a lot of threats and the only way that we're going to even know about these threats is if we talk about them and raise the issue in public forums. By emphasizing we were Muslim minority in East Turkestan in our land, we are not minority. Even with the Chinese censor, we are still majority. And I say this knowing that we failed, but you're right in the challenge of saying we've got to do much, much better. Cultural issue, especially around education around these topics is we have to start addressing this at the foundation and at the systemic level of why we're in this position.