Pete Barlow for Congress
Taking the Valley’s Values to Congress
Disasters are coming for Virginia, and Congress created them. Pete Barlow is a 10th-generation native son. Pete believes Congress should work for and answer to the people. He’s running to fight for Virginia’s 6th District.
Will you join the fight?
Yes I’m in!
Pete left FEMA to tackle the disasters created by Congress.
Ben Cline is nothing but a cheerleader. He says yes to every policy Trump wants. Never questioning. Never fighting for his constituents. Never defending the Constitution. Cline has become a lapdog of the White House. He doesn’t even try to represent the Valley. And he’s a coward. He refuses to face the voters in public meetings and town halls.
Pete is the opposite. Pete is a leader. While co-founding a tech startup and working on his farm, Pete will be doing what a member of Congress should do. He will be jumping in his 13-year-old truck to host #peopletalk2pete gatherings and listening to his neighbors. He is eager to hear their ideas about what they need from their government and what changes they would like to see.
“I never fancied myself a politician. Congress unleashed disastrous policies on our region, and Congress is where we must fight.”
What our Valley got from Ben
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The “One Big Beautiful Bill” imposes ugly and cruel consequences for rural healthcare.
Many rural Virginians rely on Medicaid — either traditional Medicaid or Medicaid funds that support Cardinal Care programs under the Affordable Care Act. Even those not on Medicaid benefit from the program, because the funds help rural hospitals stay afloat.
Ben Cline’s vote to cut rural healthcare will worsen already challenging situations in our area. Rural hospitals in the district will close as a result. Page County, for instance, will remain a maternity care desert. Women in labor have to drive over the mountains to see a doctor in Harrisonburg or Fauquier County!
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People in our area have fought for government investment in necessary infrastructure for more than a century. After the Civil War, the Readjuster Movement demanded state investment in roads, bridges, and schools. In the 1920s, farmers advocated for roads so they could get their products to market. The New Deal in the 1930s elevated these issues to the federal level, and the nationally funded investments included rural electricity and water treatment systems, as well as roads, schools, hospitals, veterans' services, and Post Offices that still stand today.
Broadband is the 21st-century version of a highway. Ben Cline voted to shut off investment in broadband, holding back job growth, wage growth, and consigning the region to be a backwater without access to markets, jobs, education, and other opportunities. Parts of Highland County don’t even have reliable cell phone service!
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Our district is home to Shenandoah National Park and two national forests, which employ hundreds of residents and bring in millions of tourism dollars.
Republican cuts to already allocated money, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, and the “One Big Beautiful Bill” have led to the loss of those jobs and federal investment in the protection of these natural resources.
While we remember that families in our district still carry the legacy of being displaced to build the Park almost a century ago, Ben Cline has been AWOL, leaving undefended the tourism, conservation, and good jobs our region depends on today. He even voted against raising pay for wildland firefighters while they were working to extinguish fires in Page County.
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Across-the-board tariffs are taxes. President Trump has increased those taxes to their highest levels in a century. American businesses and consumers are paying the price. Farmers are paying the Trump tax through higher costs of inputs, building materials, and, of course, loss of access to global markets. Small businesses throughout the region are paying higher costs and grappling with unstable supply chains. Ultimately, all of these taxes will be passed on to you, the American consumer. That means higher prices on nearly everything. These Trump taxes are also an unconstitutional power grab. Congress alone has the authority to impose taxes and tariffs.
What has Ben Cline done to protect his constituents and the Constitution? Nothing. He’s a cheerleader, not a real leader. But the region’s farmers, small business owners, and consumers are hurting. And that is nothing to cheer about.
“People are angry. They’re right to be angry, because they have been betrayed.”
- Pete Barlow
What Silicon Valley got from Ben
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The “One Big Beautiful Bill” gave the wealthiest people $120 billion every year in tax cuts, and paid for those cuts by defunding $120 billion in healthcare and food assistance programs. Another way to think about it is Congress wrote a $296,000 check to every taxpayer who makes more than $5 million. This recklessly unfair and fiscally irresponsible law added $4 trillion to the national debt over a 10-year period. Bezos, Musk, Thiel, and their Silicon Valley pals have billions of reasons to thank Ben Cline. Folks living in our district should vote Ben Cline out for this betrayal alone!
Bezos, Musk, Thiel, and their Silicon Valley pals have billions of reasons to thank Ben Cline. Folks living in our district should vote Ben Cline out for this betrayal alone!
Do you know your 6th congressional district?
Let’s listen and learn with Pete.