News Home

U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-5th, hasn’t officially announced her bid for a seventh term representing North Carolina’s 5th U.S. House District. But she left no doubt Wednesday she would seek re-election in 2016.

And though no Democratic opponent has surfaced to mount a challenge in this largely Republican district, Foxx said she anticipates a race.

“I feel certain I will have Democratic opposition,” Foxx said Wednesday in a telephone interview with The Dispatch.

Democrats have not fared well in their five attempts to unseat Foxx since she was elected in 2004 to replace Richard Burr, who gave up the 5th District seat in his successful run for U.S. Senate. In the five campaigns since her election, Foxx has handily defeated all opponents from the Democratic Party.

In 2014, Foxx outdistanced Democrat Josh Brannon, a software developer and political newcomer, by 22 percentage points.

State Democratic Party officials in Raleigh did not return telephone calls this week regarding possible challengers to Foxx.

Like many of her colleagues, Foxx has spent much of August traveling throughout her home district during the monthlong congressional recess. She’ll return to Washington, D.C., for Tuesday’s reconvening of the House.

Foxx said constituents she met during her travels last month shared common concerns about several hot-button issues of the day: jobs, the economy and the Affordable Care Act.

“Everywhere I go, I hear horror stories about the negative impact of Obamacare,” Foxx said. Many people expressed concerns of higher rates for health insurance, higher deductibles and less coverage.

Since its passage five years ago, Obamacare has added more than 16.4 million people to health insurance rolls, dropping the uninsured rate to its lowest levels in four decades, according to government estimates.

Other “very common themes” Foxx heard during her travels were frustrations by workers over quality jobs and employers’ difficulties in finding skilled workers for the jobs that do exist.

When Congress bangs the gavel to reconvene after Labor Day, Foxx expects some other, high-profile issues to make headlines: the proposed nuclear deal with Iran, an appropriations bill to keep the government running beyond its Sept. 30 funding deadline and legislation that could further lower gasoline prices by authorizing more exports of U.S. crude oil.

Some Republicans staunchly opposed to continued federal funding of Planned Parenthood have threatened to hold up the spending authorization bill if the family planning organization continues to receive tax dollars.

Hidden-camera videos claiming that Planned Parenthood – the nation’s largest provider of abortions – profits from the sale of fetal tissue sparked outrage among many this summer.

Foxx was one of 73 co-sponsors to join Tennessee Republican Rep. Diane Black on a bill just before the recess that would permanently cut off all taxpayer funding for abortion providers. That bill was referred to committee, and Foxx was unsure of its present status.

“With so many Americans fundamentally opposed to abortion, organizations that perform elective abortions should never receive taxpayer dollars,” Foxx said in a July release.

Foxx is one of three U.S. House members representing Davidson County.

Rep. Alma Adams, D-12th, represents the winding district that stretches from Charlotte to Greensboro, and Rep. Richard Hudson, R-8th, represents primarily the southern and eastern ends of Davidson County in a district that stretches eastward to Lumberton.

Foxx’s 5th District includes northern Davidson County (Welcome, Arcadia), then creeps into Lexington from the north and northwest, picking up edges of Lexington along I-85 Business Loop. It also extends southward to the I-85/I-85 Business Loop split, taking in the Reeds Crossroads and Tyro communities.

http://www.the-dispatch.com/article/20150903/NEWS/150909920