VIENNA, Va. — The Presidential race obviously gets top billing this election season, but in Northern Virginia- there are two open House seats that could decide the balance of Congress.
We wanted to get a flavor of what issues matter and what is voters’ minds in Northern Virginia.
Wednesday night WUSA9 went to the annual Vienna Halloween parade to find a cross section of voters. As the local clubs and civic groups paraded down Maple Avenue, we found families parading around in costumes. We also found some strong political opinions.
“I think abortion is a big thing,” Jamie Faria said as he watched the Vienna Town council pass by. “We always have men dictating what a woman can do with their body and that makes me upset.”
Several blocks down Maple Ave. we found Zoe Johnson and her family dressed in Spider-Man costumes.
“Women’s rights, that’s a big controversial topic,” Johnson said, when asked about the national issues that have caught her attention.
The other issues varied a bit.
At another section of the route we found Mark Brooks who gave us a concise answer.
“Job opportunities,” he said. “We need more jobs.”
Zoe Johnson pointed out that she has another big topic on her mind:
“Guns, that is something that is huge,” she said. “People are talking about all over. Its trippy for me- because my husband hunts.”
“Donald Trump, his tax plan, bro its hurting me,” Jamie Faria said. “I’m paying taxes instead of getting a refund.”
You can see the route folks want to take nationally. But for the local Congressional races that candidates have more work to do.
“Are you familiar with who is running for Congress?” we asked Brooks.
“Nope!” another quick answer from the Fairfax County man.
“I can’t say I am familiar,” Johnson said, then recovered. “But I am going to get more educated before I vote.”
“In my district, it's Connolly!” Faria said, referring to 11th district Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.)
The hard part of this report is that we talked to quite a few people. However, not everyone wanted to be on camera. They preferred to express their opinions off-camera and off-the-record.
But, most of their opinions fell along similar lines. We heard a few concerned with the economy. We found others concerned with their children’s schools and safety. Very few mentioned the other big national issue: immigration.
Of our sample set that spoke on camera two out of three plan to vote.
“I don’t know if I’m gonna vote man,” Mark Brooks said. “Don’t have great options do we?”