Bedford County

Kimberly Moran is a working mom, employed both in the hospitality industry and as a certified tax preparer, where she helps others understand tax codes. Moran believes in the power of working together and building a thriving community. She is passionate about addressing important issues facing all the families, children, and residents of the 51st district, such as spending and investing tax dollars and surplus wisely, supporting a strong educational system, increasing services that support childcare for working families, helping everyone get quality healthcare in Virginia, and protecting the environment.

Moran will be an advocate for working families and their children. She aims to increase government funding and partnership with non-profit and private childcare sectors to provide the high quality resources needed to care for young children of working families. She will provide daycare teachers and workers with better training and higher wages to attract qualified teacher caregivers. These initiatives will be funded by fairly distributing tax surpluses among government services that serve the people and ensuring that corporations pay their fair share.

Moran understands how important it is to protect and expand the rights of all Americans. As such, she favors protecting and expanding reproductive rights, voting rights, and LGBTQrights. She aims to counter election disinformation and protect election officials. She pledges to support the Equal Rights Amendment. She believes that all people should be treated with respect and dignity and should be able to live without fear, no matter who they are or whom they love. All persons should receive equal treatment under the law, no matter their gender identity or sexual orientation.

Expanding access to quality healthcare is also at the top of Moran’s priority list. She aims to push back against the for-profit healthcare sector and transform healthcare into an affordable, accessible service for all. In order to do that, she wants to expand the definition of healthcare to include mental, reproductive, and dental health. Additionally, she will fight to strengthen and expand access to local healthcare services. Finally, she will fight to lower insurance premiums, drug costs, and hospital charges.

Moran is also a common-sense gun violence prevention advocate. She believes that it’s possible to prevent gun violence while still allowing responsible gun ownership. She knows we need sensible regulations so that our children can be safe in school and our families can be safe in our sacred places of worship, a grocery store, at the movies, or just watching a parade. In order to do this, she advocates for stronger background checks to prevent unqualified individuals from purchasing firearms, compassionate extreme risk protection orders that allow someone experiencing a mental health crisis time to heal in a weapon-free zone, and complete bans on high capacity magazines and military style assault weapons.

Moran has two opponents in this race: Republican Eric Zehr and Independent Incumbent Delegate Matt Fariss. Zehr is an extremely right-wing candidate who believes the average Republican is too tame. Fariss is just as bad, having supported multiple anti-trans bills and opposed measures to expand election access.

Given her support for common sense gun violence prevention measures, protecting the rights of all people, supporting childcare workers, and expanding affordable, quality healthcare, Moran is the progressive choice in this race.
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Sam Soghor moved to Amherst, VA from New York, where he worked as an actor and producer. He attended the State University of New York at Purchase, where he received a bachelor's degree in political science. As a parent of a child who attends Amherst County Public Schools, he has an interest in the local public school system. He enjoys the community and the natural environment that the 53rd district offers, and has expressed an interest in protecting it if elected.

In his campaign, Soghor prioritizes public education, broadband accessibility, and support for farmers. Soghor supports marijuana legalization and wants to ensure the 53rd District receives all the benefits from legalization, including increased tax revenue for public spending and economic opportunities for local farmers and entrepreneurs. Additionally, he recognizes how marijuana legalization can support the creation of new businesses and result in higher wages, stronger economic systems, and increased home values.

As a father of a student attending a public school in the district, Soghor will prioritize education if elected. He will work to ensure the district’s often overlooked rural schools receive the same amount of resources so that location is not a barrier to education. He wants to increase funding for public schools to ensure schools and teachers have all the resources necessary to provide every student a high-quality education.

He also recognizes that access to education includes access to the internet and is actively involved in expanding broadband access in Amherst County. He wants to ensure rural schools and students, who don’t have access to the same internet resources as students in urban areas, are not left behind by the state legislature. He recognizes broadband access as an equity issue and is fighting to ensure economic status is not a barrier to education.

Soghor appreciates the district’s natural environment and enjoys exploring the Blue Ridge Mountains and the George Washington National Forest. He hopes to increase environmental protections in the area while also uplifting local farmers. He recognizes the importance of fresh, local food to both community health and the economy. He wants to make sustainable farming practices accessible and affordable for district farmers and give them the same resources industrial agriculture operations have.

Soghor’s opponent is Republican Tim Griffin. Griffin is a hard-right conservative who attacks the public school system as indoctrination and attacks trans children for simply existing. He casts doubts on the integrity of our election system and wants to eradicate the separation between church and state. There are also questions as to whether he even lives in the district.

Due to his support for the environment and for policies that will uplift public education and Virginia working families, Sam Soghor is the most progressive choice for Virginia’s 53rd District.
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