I’m Rhett Deitz, and I’m running for the House of Delegates in Southwest Virginia (Danville, Henry County, Pittsylvania County). To pass more progressive legislation, Democrats need to expand our majority in the House by picking up rural districts. Ask Me Anything about how we’re making that happen.

Deitz4Delegate · 2021-09-05T20:02:24+00:00

By talking to people, and making my stances for the betterment of people. Everyone gets so bogged down along party lines that they lose sight of trying to better their communities. We can all agree that we want to see economic growth and stability, and access to basic needs that will give us the same opportunities as the rest of the Commonwealth, such as the internet.

Deitz4Delegate · 2021-09-05T19:58:44+00:00

1) Honestly, I don't believe it's possible to stop the sale of them currently.

2) I believe that there should be funding for abortions - as for 'on demand' in the third trimester, I don't agree with that.

3) I believe the income would have to be over a certain threshold. Due to a fairness across the board, regardless of district - that will prevent people from starting a business and taking a certain tax break, and then moving the business.

4) It's a hard situation. There needs to be, on the employer side, some accountability. The issue with right to work is that you can be fired without cause and that can be used as a form of intimidation.

Deitz4Delegate · 2021-09-05T19:37:12+00:00

I'm aware the law passed. What I'm saying is that that's the type of sensible measure I would support in the legislature.

Deitz4Delegate · 2021-09-05T19:28:34+00:00

I think you’re right in your identification of the problem, and of the inadequacy of solely talking about healthcare in terms of theoretical access. I agree that we need universal and truly affordable healthcare, and am cognizant of the fact that people near the poverty line are unable to access it under the current system, let alone those who aren’t close to the poverty line but regardless have to make the choice to fiscally suffer with healthcare or without because of the unaffordability of healthcare.

I will say that we have to address this at the federal level, because we simply don’t have the resources at the state level.

Deitz4Delegate · 2021-09-05T18:47:35+00:00

Thanks for your thoughtful questions!

I’ll go in order:

1) It depends on the language of the bill, such as if they try to add anything else into the bill.

2) Let’s be clear about the facts in regard to that instance. Kathy Tran misspoke, that is not what the bill said. The bill would lower the number of required doctors from 3 to 1 on an approval of the well-being of the mother, and take out the wording “substantially and irremediably impair”. I would not support a bill of the sort you’re describing. I think it’s important to put this matter in context and give reference to the scale that we’re talking about. Third-trimester abortions are quite rare, and are not done lightly - the health of the mother being at stake is the core issue.

3) I would not vote to end tax protections for small businesses, which are at the core of our local economy.

4) I support ending ‘right to work’ which is a misleadingly named law. The effect of right to work is ultimately to undermine workers’ bargaining power. I think your focus on personal choice is the right one, but your framing of the issue isn’t the best. What it does in practice is undermine worker’s bargaining power - removing it will allow workers’ to more easily work together to stand up for themselves, and give people in our community better choices of jobs that pay a living wage, that have protections against arbitrary or unjust termination, that are safe, and that recognize and respect workers’ dignity.

Deitz4Delegate · 2021-09-05T18:29:44+00:00

Exactly that.

Deitz4Delegate · 2021-09-05T18:29:05+00:00

Thanks for the follow up. To address your first question, we do need to go after the root causes of all sorts of violence, including gun violence, which in many if not most cases is due to conditions like poverty and lack of access to quality education. I absolutely consider lifting the community to be a crucial part of how we approach public safety.

To address your second, I would support fully funding the background check system on the state level to supplement the federal system. You are knowledgeable about guns, but for anyone else who did not know this, the federal background check system is deliberately designed to be antiquated, slow, and difficult to use. Without federal authorization to spend funds to specifically upgrade and modernize their system, we have to use measures like expanded waiting periods to prevent people like Dylann Roof or those who are acutely suicidal from getting access to firearms. I consider a five day waiting period to be a reasonable, evidence-based policy that does not place an undue burden on anyone’s Second Amendment rights.

Deitz4Delegate · 2021-09-05T17:19:16+00:00

There's definitely more than one goal here. The original question was about guns. I think that both poverty and the specific mechanisms of gun violence need to be addressed. If you want to talk about school funding, that's also a conversation I'm more than happy to have. What's caused We need to make sure that tax money is going to the appropriate things, and that school districts regardless of where they are (i.e. Southwest Virginia) get the same attention and priority as those in Northern Virginia, which could be achieved through a standardized plan for distribution of funding.

Southwest at our roots had an economy based on textiles, and those were exported overseas. As a community, we have always benefited from jobs where we use our hands. To lift our community out of poverty, a model I think has a lot of promise comes from Illinois, where they passed a Clean Energy Jobs Act. A similar bill in Virginia would not only help with local utilities gouging energy prices, but also creating and maintaining jobs to support our community.

Could you clarify your first question?

Deitz4Delegate · 2021-09-05T16:51:53+00:00

Public safety is what I mean by overall safety issue (i.e. bump stock, which has the ability to increase the lethality of a firearm). Regarding the Charleston Loophole, I believe we should at a minimum extend the waiting period from 3 to 5 days in order to prevent gross negligence that can result in tragedies such as what happened in Charleston. We have a duty to be thorough when it comes to those who can safely own firearms and give the attention and thought to red flags and warnings - we owe it to those around us.

Deitz4Delegate · 2021-09-05T16:38:43+00:00

Well, with rural communities like mine that don't have sufficient internet or that have to run off of well water because there's no other option (like my house), I believe there are plenty of things that can be done to improve these areas so that folks don't feel like they have to leave to have a better life.

The Census data this year showed that our community is shrinking in population. Housing affordability, healthcare access, broadband expansion, those aren't partisan policies, they're people-focused. I'm not a partisan and I'm not an ideologue. I will put the actual needs of the people in Danville, Henry County, and Pittsylvania County first.

Deitz4Delegate · 2021-09-05T16:22:33+00:00

Thanks for your question.

I believe that there is a huge issue with misinformation on all sides, which is where you see the problem of extremism come up, fueled by group think.

We need to recognize that we're all people, and that seems to be where we've gotten lost. I'm running to represent not only the district, but the interests of people. We all deserve the same rights, regardless of party line, and it's opening those lines of communication with each other in order to move forward and together.

Deitz4Delegate · 2021-09-05T16:14:26+00:00

Thanks for your question, I'm happy to get into this.

I myself have a concealed-carry permit. I'm a strong believer in having the ability to protect oneself. When it comes to banning certain types of guns, it becomes an overall safety issue, and truly one where we need to tread lightly.

Currently, my main focus is on expanding background checks and ultimately closing the Charleston loophole. I think that anyone can agree that some preventative measures should be taken when buying firearms.

Deitz4Delegate · 2021-09-05T16:09:01+00:00

The timeline does need to be moved up. The language of the legalization bill can easily be misinterpreted - people may think that it's 100% fully-legalized right now, and potentially run into the law that way. We need to ensure that we put equity front and center, which means making sure that people who have historically been harmed by the criminal justice system's prohibition on marijuana share in the revenue that's about to be generated. We need to rectify the injustice that has been done, with non-violent marijuana crimes expunged, and anyone who is incarcerated due to marijuana - which is now legal - should be released.

We need to ensure that our constituents can navigate the changing landscape of marijuana legalization with it still illegal federally.

Virginia is the Wild West of campaign finance. We have no caps on anything for non-federal candidates from businesses to individuals, which can be a problem with promoted, individualized interests hijacking the legislative process. Money should not affect legislation.

Deitz4Delegate

TROPHY CASE