Congresswoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC5) will announce her plans to seek reelection in 2024 at the North Carolina Republican Party Convention in Greensboro (June 8-11, 2023).
Carolina Journal spoke with Rep. Foxx about her planned announcement.
“In the first months of the new conservative majority in the House, we’ve demonstrated why America desperately needs leadership that is committed to our founding principles of limited government and individual liberty,” Foxx said. “With each passing week it is painfully obvious that the Biden administration is stuck in a destructive cycle of expanding the reach and power of the federal government over every area of the lives of hard working Americans. I’m running for reelection to reinvigorate our traditions of self-government and self-reliance, to put a stop to the left’s big government agenda, and place America back on the path of a prosperous future for our children and grandchildren.”
Foxx is a 10-term congresswoman who calls Banner Elk in Watauga County home. Foxx currently represents the 5th Congressional District, which encompasses the northwest part of North Carolina, from the foothills of the Piedmont to the southern highlands of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Ten counties, and parts of two others, make up the 5th Congressional District: Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Davie, Mitchell, Stokes, Surry, Watauga, Wilkes, and Yadkin counties, as well as most of Caldwell and part of Forsyth.
Winning every U.S. House election since 2004 with no recent general election closer than 14%, and no recent Republican primary closer than 35%, Foxx is considered the “dean” of the North Carolina delegation by her GOP colleagues. With the General Assembly set to redraw North Carolina’s congressional districts later this year, Foxx, who will be 80 years of age later this month, wanted to clearly signal she is not slowing down.
“I still have tremendous stamina and I am still getting things done,” Foxx told Carolina Journal, adding that she recently was given a clean bill of health from her doctors.
“During my time in Congress, I have fought tirelessly for more liberty and less government intrusion in our lives,” Foxx said. “That’s why I am committed to halting the Biden administration’s precipitous slide into the kind of socialist policies that have destroyed nation after nation throughout history. It’s past time to discard the woke, socialist policies peddled by the far-left. Instead, our great nation needs to reinvigorate the ethos of hard-work, to praise the accomplishments of risk-takers and problem-solvers, and get back to our time-tested traditions that build up the strong families and strong communities that made the United States the greatest nation in the world.”
Foxx is the chairwoman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce and won the rare endorsement by her party’s leadership to lead the committee for a fourth term.
In March, Foxx led the charge in passing the “Parents Bill of Rights Act,” which would amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to require schools to provide parents with a list of books and reading materials available in the school library as well as to post curriculum publicly.
It would also require elementary and middle schools that receive federal funding to obtain parental consent before “changing a minor child’s gender markers, pronouns, or preferred name on any school form; or allowing a child to change the child’s sex-based accommodations, including locker rooms or bathrooms.”
Additionally, the legislation affirms parents’ rights to address school boards and receive information about violent activity in their child’s school.
“North Carolina voters are looking for solutions that work,” Foxx said. “They want economic growth, good jobs, and strong national security — not President Biden’s runaway inflation, porous borders, and class warfare. My plan is to build on my proven track record of conservative problem-solving on behalf of my constituents. I led the North Carolina delegation in laws signed by President Trump. I know we can tackle our problems and fix them if we turn our backs on failed socialist ideas and instead embrace the time-tested solutions rooted in liberty and limited government.”
Foxx, one of the most conservative members in the U.S. House, has a reputation for working across the aisle. Presidents Bush (43), Obama, Trump, and Biden have all signed legislation into law that she generated and passed.
Later this year, Foxx believes she can help pass a bi-partisan workforce bill to address America’s shortage of workers in critical skilled areas.
Foxx praised the work requirements for certain welfare programs, including the debt ceiling bill, as an important step to getting many of the 4 million able-bodied men currently on welfare into the workforce.