Sen. Mark Warner talks inflation, Iran war and AI as he seeks Senate re-election

RICHMOND, Va. — With early voting underway ahead of Election Day on Tuesday, November 3, it's time to meet the candidates.

Each of the major candidates in Virginia's US Senate race and the three Congressional races in the WTVR viewing area has been invited on the CBS 6 News at 7:30 p.m. with Bill Fitzgerald to talk about their priorities.

Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat vying for a third term, stopped by CBS 6 to lay out his plans for taming inflation, ending the Iran war, and regulating AI and data center growth.

Warner says the election is principally about inflation

"Trying to bring down costs, in my mind, means we've got to end this war of choice with Iran," said Warner. "We've got to get rid of these crazy tariff policies that drive up costs as well. You've got to start with the Iran war because gas before the Iran war was $2.81 in Central Virginia. It's what, $4.20 now? Diesel's at about $6.40. That is due to the fact that the Strait of Hormuz has been closed, where 20% of the world's oil comes from. And these tariff policies: our largest trading partner out of Virginia for a long time was Canada. I mean, it's hard to make Canadians mad, but we've made Canadians mad as well as most of our allies around the world. So working on those two items would immediately drop prices you pay at the store as well as gas and fuel prices."

War with Iran

Warner acknowledged that even if Democrats pick up enough seats in the Senate to reclaim the majority, finding a satisfactory end to the war President Trump and Israel launched in February will be difficult.

"If you're going to start a war of choice, one, you try to bring allies with you. President Trump did not do that," Warner said. "And I do fear even If we declare victory - President Trump's good at declaring victory on things - and we stop the conflict, Iran will still be able to exert some toll. That will be a long-time effect of this huge mistake. I do think we need to see Saudis and others start to put more oil through pipelines so they don't have to use the Strait of Hormuz. But again, it kind of comes back to how we are viewed in the world. America has had as our strengths, not only our economy and our military, but also the fact that we had friends and allies around the world. Unfortunately, again, this president has angered most of those friends and allies."

Data Centers

Warner also weighed in on the raging debate in Virginia and elsewhere about the growth of data centers.

"I think there will be data centers because AI is not going away. But there needs to be a minimum federal standard. These data centers ought to bring their own power, which ought to be clean power. They are actually using less water now because they've got circulatory systems. They need to have setbacks from communities. A big data center company should not be able to come in with a nondisclosure agreement. And if you don't meet those standards, you shouldn't get the tax benefit in the form of the bonus tax depreciation. They're able to write off all of these data center costs in their first year. And here's the most ironic thing of all: most of the big companies have said, 'yeah, Warner, we can live with those requirements.' But instead, we've got a president who says, 'pedal to the metal regardless.'

AI vs. Virginia jobs

The explosive growth of AI investment, which is fueling the data centers they rely on, has Warner sounding a note of caution.

"I'm pro-AI in the long-term, but I am very concerned about the job dislocation," he said. "What do you even train for, for AI-adjacent jobs? It's already affected the media in so many ways. I think these companies, the most powerful, richest companies in the history of our country, need to help contribute to how we get through this workforce displacement."

"I've laid out a a comprehensive approach on artificial intelligence, because frankly if we don't put some safety protocols in, we could have— and again I'm not a 'doomer,' I'm pro-AI — we could have an incident that would really turn the whole public against this technology, which I think will be bigger than anything we've seen in our lifetime."

Warner also said the US healthcare system is broken, and come around to a view he did not always hold "It's a position that I didn't have 10 years ago, but I've seen how broken our healthcare system is. I think we need to move to universal healthcare so we can actually focus on cost containment," Warner said.

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