Collegiate Times - Senate Candidate Gillespie Challenges Incumbent Warner to Debate on Campus

Op-Ed

By Ed Gillespie

When I launched my campaign in January, some of the first college students to volunteer were Hokies. Your engagement in the political process -- whomever you choose to support in this election -- is vitally important to the future of Virginia and to the future of our nation.

That's why I eagerly accepted the invitation from Virginia Tech President Timothy Sands to participate in the third annual Virginia Tech Senate debate. Virginia Tech has hosted debates for the last two statewide campaigns in Virginia, and it's an event that needs to continue.

Hokies provide strong leadership to our Commonwealth. I was honored to have been endorsed and introduced at our Republican State Convention in Roanoke by Senator Mark Obenshain, a Hokie who is an effective leader in our state Senate and who made Republicans proud last year as our nominee for attorney general. Congressman Rob Wittman, representing the First Congressional District of Virginia, is a proud Hokie. And on the other side of the aisle, Democratic Delegate David Bulova got his master's in public administration here at Virginia Tech.

As you start a new school year -- whether you're a freshman or a senior -- you face new challenges. Those preparing to graduate will face a difficult job market, in which 44 percent of recent graduates are unemployed or underemployed, unable to find a job commensurate with their degree. Total student loan debt has risen to more than 1.2 trillion dollars, which is putting an unprecedented burden on recent graduates.

Mark Warner, our incumbent Senator, and I have different ideas for creating economic opportunities for high school and college graduates and getting things done in Washington. Senator Warner has been there for nearly six years, and I know that we can do better than the job-killing policies he has supported.

I have seen the blessings of liberty and the opportunity this country has to offer in my own family. My dad was an immigrant from Ireland. I grew up working in my parents' grocery store and helped pay for college by working as a parking lot attendant as well as taking out loans. Despite this, I grew up to be a counselor to the president of the United States.

I want to make sure that kind of economic opportunity and upward mobility is there for both yours and future generations. I'm concerned that growing the student debt, combined with a job market that leaves too many college graduates unable to find work commensurate with their expensive degrees and the mounting federal debt, makes it harder for your generation to live on your own.

I appreciate Mark Warner's service in public office, but I also believe that to truly serve the public, you must be willing to stand before your constituents and defend your record. He not only refused to accept the invitation to debate at Virginia Tech, but also refused all four of the university campus debate invitations I've accepted.

U.S. senators serve for six-year terms. Elections are when voters get the opportunity to see if their senators have lived up to their promises. I think the Virginia Tech community deserves that opportunity. Senator Warner apparently does not.

I encourage you to go to my website, edforsenate.com, and compare my agenda for economic growth to Senator Warner's record and decide which you think is best for the future of our great country. I hope you'll join me in calling for Senator Warner to agree to participate in the Virginia Tech debate, which should become an election year tradition.

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