Rep. John McGuire talks immigration, gas prices and the Iran war ahead of mid-terms

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.

Rep. John McGuire, a first-term Republican running for reelection in Virginia's 5th District stopped by the CBS6 studio Monday.

McGuire touted what he said were the achievements of the past two years.

"We've secured the border, and we're experiencing a 126-year low on murder," he said. "Fentanyl deaths, for the first time I can remember, have gone down, and we've brought 22 trillion dollars back into our country, as you can imagine, when NAFTA and 95,000 businesses left."

As for inflation, and the skyrocketing price of gas and fuel, McGuire said the fallout from the Iran war, which was launched by the Administration and Israel in February, played a role.

"I think those are real challenges, and I think really we were dealing with that with regard to the last administration," said McGuire. "We've been making progress. Like I said, in just 22 months, we've brought 22 trillion dollars back into the country, 20 billion dollars back into my district. But everything's about energy. We used to have 250 refineries in the United States. Now we have 130. There was a push for everybody to get electric cars, but we should be able to do both."

"What's happening in the Strait of Hormuz certainly drove the prices up. But no matter what happened in Europe or Middle East or anywhere else, it wouldn't affect our prices if those refineries were open. Our prices would be stabilized around $2. But we're producing more crude oil today in the United States and Saudi Arabia or Russia, but we can't refine it, so we have to ship it overseas, refine it, bring it back."

As to whether President Trump's deal with Russia to allow that country to sell diesel, and his separate action to suspend a tougher sanctions bill recently passed in memory of late Sen. Lindsay Graham, McGuire said he was not privy to high-level decisions.

"I'm not a big fan of Russia," McGuire said. "I also know that negotiations are complicated. President Trump did negotiate eight peace treaties. He wanted the Nobel Peace Prize. I know that he saw the danger of Iran and did not want to do it, but he wants to have peace and he wants to settle what's going on in Russia and Ukraine. And he says that this is part of that negotiation. I'm not at that level. I'm not a big fan of Russia, but I would like to see less people dying."

McGuire said he agreed with voters' concerns about data centers but did not see a federal role in their regulation.

"I think they have a right to be riled up, and I've been speaking out against it, especially this thing called Valley Link," said McGuire. "I wrote a letter to [Gov.] Abigail Spanberger asking her months ago to toss the program, and I've never heard back from her. I basically went to visit farms where they would put these this above ground power transmission line right through multi-generation farms, which is not fair to rural Virginia, and we're also buying energy from other states because these data centers use a lot of energy. There's a place for data centers. I suggested in one interview maybe in the desert, but not next to your house, not next to your farm. And if a county doesn't want a data center, they shouldn't have it. If you have to pay for their energy, they shouldn't have it. And if it impacts your water tables, they shouldn't have it. But I think it's more of a local issue."

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