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There is and should continue to be no direct federal role in elections. That power belongs solely to the states. I would advocate for Virginia to expand its current use of risk-limiting audits. As a software engineer, we have to look at updating HAVA guidelines around the Election Assistance Commission that certifies voting machine equipment and auditing.

We need to make voting technology a national security interest to ensure voting is accurate, atomic, secure, and transparent when done on a machine. There are two companies in the country that are currently certified on the latest standard, one has no secure public website and the other a gambling company that was bought by private equity. We need transparent competition in this space.

My goal is ultimately to defund and abolish ICE. It is currently being used not for its intended purpose, but instead as the executive branch’s tax-payer funded, private, domestic army. The ICE program is antithetical to the words and intentions of the founders of our nation. Far too many people, including citizens, have had their constitutional rights ignored such as due process. Customs and Border Protection facilities must be better regulated, fully under federal oversight, and should never be private or for-profit facilities. Expansion of the immigration court system would greatly reduce the need for any detention facilities. There are currently only about 500 immigration judges to hear a backlog of millions of cases.

I think Citizen’s United has created a political system where power is being bought rather than being won on merit. Spending caps need to be placed on campaigns, from town council races all the way through presidential campaigns. I would propose a spending cap of $500,000 for congressional races, $1,000,000 for senate races, and $15,000,000 for presidential races. These numbers aren’t exact, but the goal is to shift towards publicly funded elections/capped spending elections. Representation should be to connect with the district, not simply win due to wealth distorting the coverage of an election.

Medicare For All(M4A) is central to my campaign. No one should ever be denied necessary healthcare, and no one should ever face bankruptcy over medical debt. Corporate greed is the reason that this is still happening in the richest country in the history of the world. M4A would remove the private insurance middlemen that suck up the dollars of hard-working Americans while denying access to the care that they pay for. Rural healthcare access is also a significant problem in Virginia’s ninth district. Medicare For All would alleviate some of the issues faced by our rural citizens by reducing administrative burdens and eliminating uncompensated care, both of which disproportionately affect rural hospitals and healthcare facilities.

A Living Wage Data Privacy Strong Unions Workers’ rights Reproductive Freedom Environmental Protection Equitable Public Education Data Center Restrictions RW-COLA bill (Rural Wage Cost of Living Adjustment) And a 21st Century Economy for SWVA

For more detailed information about any of the above topics and others, please visit my campaign website: Murphy4VA.com

Elections should be run locally, by people who know their communities — with federal support to guarantee security standards and equal access, not federal control. I trust our local registrars. What I don't trust is turning elections into another partisan football. People deserve to know their vote counts, plain and simple.

I don't think the system we have now is working; not for the people trying to do this the right way, and not for the communities living with it. I've seen what happens when an agency has that much power with too little accountability: families torn apart over paperwork, people held in facilities with no real oversight, and no clear line of responsibility when something goes wrong. I believe we need to tear that system down and build something that actually works, enforcement that's accountable, humane, and focused on real public safety, not agencies operating in the shadows with a blank check.

There are real bills in front of Congress right now to do exactly that. Senators Mark Kelly and Elissa Slotkin introduced the Ban Corporate PACs Act to stop corporations from running PACs that give directly to candidates in the first place. There's also a bill to cap Super PAC contributions at $5,000, so a handful of billionaires and corporations can't write unlimited checks to buy influence in a district they've never set foot in. I support both.

"Affordability" isn't one problem, it's a few problems wearing the same coat. On Healthcare, I want federal dollars going to keep rural hospitals open, get maternal care and mental health services back into our communities, and make sure elder care and caregiver support aren't afterthoughts. Ultimately, we must be working toward universal healthcare to insure no family gets left behind or with a life shattering medical bill. We need broadband and childcare funded like the infrastructure they are, not extras because we must make it more affordable to work in SWVA. Of course, we also must work vigorously to bring food prices down by localized processing, consumer protection and fix the SNAP and WIC programs to protect our most vulnerable.

Make life easier, make business more plentiful, and bring jobs and investment that are actually rooted in this district. For too long, SWVA has been treated two ways in Washington: ignored or used when convenient. Our coal, timber, labor, and land have made others rich for too long. I’m in this not to serve a party platform, but to serve this district; aggressively, without apology. If an idea helps SWVA, I don't care what letter is next to the name attached to it. My HOME Plan (Healthcare, Opportunity, Markets, and Education) is how I turn that into something real. But the plan isn't the point. The district is the point. The plan is just how we get there.