by Shawn Nowlin
While U.S. Senators serve six-year terms, each of the 435 members in the House of Representatives face re-election every two years. Since 2019, Virginia’s 6th Congressional District, which includes Roanoke and most of the Shenandoah Valley, has been represented by Republican Ben Cline.
In 2024, Cline defeated his Democratic opponent Ken Mitchell with nearly 63 percent of the vote. Before becoming a member of Congress six years ago, fellow Republican Bob Goodlatte held the seat from 1993 through 2019. Jim Olin, the last Democrat to represent the district, served in office for a decade, starting in 1983.
Beth Macy is a critically acclaimed journalist. A renowned reporter for The Roanoke Times from 1989 until 2014, she has written five books, including two New York Times bestsellers. She is best known for “Dopesick,” a nonfiction book that explores the origins of the opioid epidemic in America.
Recently, she announced her campaign for Congress in downtown Roanoke at the Historic Fire Station 1 Building. As of now, Mitchell and former FEMA analyst Pete Barlow are the only other Democrats to officially announce they will be challenging Cline for his seat.
Addressing a crowd of fervent supporters, Macy, a 2010 Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, told all in attendance, “We have had enough of working too hard for too long for too little. Ben Cline has taken hundreds of thousands of dollars from giant corporations, including Big Pharma. It’s time that we say to Ben Cline, ‘Enough!!’
She continued, “I know the world of the working class. I grew up in a small town. I was one of the poorest kids in my class. I felt the raw pain of family addiction and utility cut-off notices. My dad returned home from World War II to become a serially unemployed and alcoholic housepainter while my feisty, frugal mother held the family together.”
Politicians don’t appoint themselves; voters usually decide who serves in Congress. Cultivating a coalition of support will be vital in determining how successful Macy’s campaign becomes.
If elected, she says that housing and healthcare will be among her top priorities.
On her “Beth Macy for Congress” webpage, a statement reads, “Beth is running for Congress now because she can no longer stand idly by while working people take the brunt of cruel budget cuts while seemingly everything — from groceries to healthcare — becomes more unaffordable. That’s why she’s decided to set aside her pen and turn to creating real change.”
On the federal level, Congress controls the purse strings and determines spending and taxation. The Federal Reserve Bank controls the money supply and interest rates.
Since Democrats control the General Assembly and passed a constitutional amendment during a special session in early November, there is a high likelihood that the congressional district lines will be redrawn before the 2026 midterms.
