Heather Bell
Bedford County cattle farmer and business owner Joy Powers won the Tuesday, Aug. 4 Democratic primary and will face Rep. Morgan Griffith (R) in the November election.
Powers received 9,484 votes (51.71%), while her challenger Adam Murphy garnered 36.34% with 6,665 votes and Douglas E. Crockett had 11.95% with 2,192 votes.
Following her primary win, Powers said she will work for the constituents of her district, not a political party, if elected.
“The real divide in this country is not left versus right. It is the people at the top versus everybody down here doing the work,” said Powers. “For too long, the folks at the top have done just fine while Southwest Virginia got handed the bill. I am running to flip that, and I am not asking anybody’s permission to do it.”
“I do not answer to a party. I answer to the people of this district,” she continued. “Nobody here needs another politician who serves the big donors and the powerful and only remembers us at election time. This campaign belongs to the people who have been overlooked, not the lobbyists, not the mega-donors, not the party.”
Powers said her campaign “would be a fight for the basics working families here have been denied,” according to a statement by her campaign. “Her HOME Plan centers on keeping rural hospitals open and care close to home, creating good jobs so young people can stay and build a life here, standing up for farmers and independent producers against the big players squeezing them out, and defending public schools as anchors of community life.”
Murphy congratulated Powers for her win.
“I want to congratulate Joy on her hard-fought victory in this primary,” Murphy said in a statement released late Tuesday night. “All three candidates put their heart and soul into this race, and I want to especially thank the over 200 volunteers who dedicated thousands of hours to the Murphy campaign. We ran a people powered, grassroots campaign that was done by the people and for the people – and we took no money from corporate PACs, AIPAC, or billionaires in the process. I have spent the last year learning from and working with folks from across the 9th, and I can say without a doubt that we live in a special place.”
“We all deserve so much better from our representative than we have had in Morgan Griffith,” he continued. “I hope my supporters will join me in congratulating Joy and working to support her 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.”
Locally, turnout was 8% of registered voters in Montgomery County with 5,146 ballots cast out of 67,989 registered voters and Powers getting the majority of votes. In the City of Radford, 448 were cast, representing 5% of the city’s 9,811 registered voters, with Murphy getting the majority of the votes.
