Incumbent Ben Cline (R) wins congressional seat for third time, defeats Lewis
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Congressman Ben Cline, R-Botetourt, cruised to a re-election victory Tuesday night, comfortably defeating Democrat Jennifer Lewis for a second time in a race for the 6th Congressional District seat.
The first time Cline and Lewis battled for a seat in Congress was in 2018 when Cline, who was running following the retirement of Republican Bob Goodlatte, defeated Lewis with nearly 60% of the vote. Two years later in 2020, he easily defeated Nicholas Betts for the seat. On Tuesday, Cline was again victorious in his second bid for re-election.
With 292 precincts out of 323 reporting Tuesday night, Cline had 65% of the vote. The Associated Press called the race about an hour after the polls closed.
In a statement released Tuesday night, Cline said, "I am eager to tackle the challenges facing our nation in a new Republican majority and address the many failings of the Biden Administration. Americans voted for a change today because as they’ve felt the pain of high energy costs and the uncertainty of rising crime, Washington has provided few solutions. A Republican majority will put legislation on the President’s desk to rein in Democrat’s inflation-fueling spending, shut off the supply of fentanyl that is poisoning this country by securing our open southern border, and provide much needed relief at the gas pump by restoring America’s energy independence. I look forward to getting back to work for the people of Virginia’s Sixth District."
The 6th District for the U.S. House of Representatives encompasses a region that stretches south from Winchester along Interstate 81 and into the Roanoke area, and includes Staunton, Waynesboro and Augusta County. The district has leaned heavily to the right of the political spectrum for more than two decades.
Lewis won Staunton with 5,023 votes to Cline's 4,002. In Waynesboro, Cline grabbed 3,881 votes to 3,212 for Lewis. Augusta County heavily favored Cline, where out of the nearly 30,000 votes cast, he grabbed more than 76% (22,827), according to the Virginia Department of Elections.
Cline previously served as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, representing the 24th District from 2002-2018. From 2007 to 2013, he served as an assistant commonwealth’s attorney for Rockingham County and Harrisonburg.
Cline supports increasing oil and gas production on federal lands, wants a repeal of the "death tax," is pushing for congressional reform, supports expanding access to Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), and called for "greater transparency and accountability from pharmacy benefit managers, allowing for lower prices for patients," according to his website.
In an interview last week, Lewis told The News Leader she'd like to see drug recovery centers more widely available in Virginia, law enforcement reform, touted tuition-free community college, and said she felt Cline should be ineligible to run for Congress and disbarred as an attorney for voting to reject Electoral College ballots in a failed attempt by some Republicans to overturn the election of Joe Biden as president.
Brad Zinn is the cops, courts and breaking news reporter at The News Leader. Have a news tip? Or something that needs investigating? You can email reporter Brad Zinn (he/him) at bzinn@newsleader.com. You can also follow him on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Incumbent Ben Cline (R) retains congressional seat, defeats Lewis
