It might seem like the biggest responsibility of a political novice taking on an experienced incumbent would be to detail exactly what said incumbent was – or was not – doing to merit being tossed out of office.
The closest any of the three challengers to U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-8th) came at a recent forum was when Republican Jerry Torres suggested the district needed a visible representative.
“Our congressperson needs to show up. I will show up,” Torres said during a Sept. 3 campaign forum sponsored by the Arlington County Civic Federation.
(Torres said he wasn’t singling out Beyer specifically, so whether his comment was meant as a dig or just a musing was left to the audience to divine.)
Torres and independents David Kennedy and Bentley Hensel are taking on Beyer in what is more akin to an exercise in political participation than a competitive campaign. The 8th District is among the most Democratic-leaning in the country, and Beyer, who was first elected in 2014, seems likely to cruise to victory.
But there remained among some of the challengers a spirit of bonhomie despite the kamikaze mission they collectively were on.
“I’m going to take Don’s job,” Kennedy cheerfully (and perhaps tongue in cheek) said at the forum. As independents, he and Hensel took shots at both Democrats and Republicans.
“Folks are tired,” Kennedy said. “We are exhausted by the two big mega-parties. I’m concerned when there is no competition – there should be no such thing as coronations.”
Hensel referred to himself as a data-driven problem-solver. “My campaign is about solutions. I know how to reach across the aisle, make friends,” he said.
Beyer too said he could be bipartisan when the situation merited, saying he delighted in “putting people over politics.”
The challengers took turns touting views on issues ranging from illegal immigration to crime to the environment. But you can’t land blows on an incumbent unless you throw some verbal punches, and none of the three went directly at Beyer’s record, specific positions or his occasional cosying up to some of his very far left congressional colleagues.
Beyer – who is the rare member of Congress who can commute to and from his district each day – said he was a visible presence on issues ranging from the social safety net to economic development.
“Whenever they need me to show up, I’m going to be there,” he said.
A former Virginia lieutenant governor and Barack Obama’s ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein (never forget little Liechtenstein), Beyer in 2014 crushed a large field of opponents to win the Democratic Party’s nomination to succeed venerable U.S. Rep. Jim Moran, who retired. He has not faced significant intra-party or general-election opposition since.
