Marty Gordon
NRVsports@mainstreetnewspapers.com
The Democratic side of the ballot for the Ninth Congressional seat is starting to become crowded.
Sunday, Joy Powers announced she would seek the nomination to run against Republican Morgan Griffith.
Powers has most recently run an unsuccessful campaign for the Virginia House of Delegates in the 51st District. She announced her intentions this past week at the Blacksburg Community Center.
Powers outlined her congressional “HOME Plan,” a comprehensive rural policy blueprint composed over months of listening sessions and community conversations. Powers says she will focus on restoring trust, strengthening local economies, and ensuring Southwest Virginia has a representative who “shows up and delivers.”
“Southwest Virginia deserves a leader who will fight — not for political points, but for practical solutions. Someone who knows what it means to put in a hard day’s work, to run a small business, to keep a farm going, and to raise a family,” she said.
Power is a fourth-generation farmer from Southwest Virginia, a small business leader and a community advocate.
The H.O.M.E. Plan is the foundation of Joy’s campaign.
“It’s a set of priorities focused on Healthcare, Opportunity, Market Affordability, and Education, built from real conversations in church basements, on front porches, and around kitchen tables across Southwest Virginia,” she said.
Powers joins Adam Murphy, a Roanoke County software developer who announced his plan to challenge Griffith earlier this year. The process is a primary election to determine who goes on to face the incumbent in the 2026 midterm election.
“Across this country, Americans are feeling abandoned,” Murphy said. “We all feel like the system is rigged against us, that our voices aren’t being heard, and that our needs are being ignored. And here in Southwest Virginia, too many of us have felt that frustration, that sense of being overlooked and getting stock replies instead of real answers.”
Murphy said he is running for this district because he believes we deserve better.
“I believe that every single resident of SWVA deserves to feel represented, to feel heard, and to know that their concerns are being taken seriously. Never again will a voice in this district go unanswered. Never again will a need be dismissed.”
