CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Voters in the 5th district this year will choose a new representative no matter who wins. They’ll be choosing between conservative Republican Bob Good and Democrat Cameron Webb.
It’s hard to talk about Cameron Webb without looking at his resume. The political newcomer at age 37 is a medical doctor and a lawyer.
“I started med school first. Did three years of med school. Went off, did two and a half years of law school. Came back did a year and a half of both at the same time, and that was my seven years of training,” Webb said.
Based in Charlottesville, Webb has been seeing patients — including COVID-19 patients — while balancing time for the campaign. He says his interest in politics is fueled by being a doctor.
“I just decided to do that service through medicine, and so the idea of coming into public service as an elected official was a natural outgrowth of some of the things I’ve been seeing in our communities impacting the health of my patients,” he said.
While his opponent, Republican Bob Good has tried to paint him as a liberal, who is anti-law enforcement, Webb, whose father worked for the DEA says that’s not the case and it’s not an issue.
“That’s right. It’s not. It’s not,” Webb said. “The first thing I’ll say is that I do not support defunding the police. I think it’s important to say that very clearly because that’s become a wedge issue in our politics.”
Not surprisingly, Webb is pushing hardest on the issue of healthcare. He wants to build upon Obamacare even though he says it failed.
“I think my opinion of it is that the original conception was to get coverage for everybody and bring down the cost. And it didn’t get coverage for everybody and it didn’t bring down the cost,” Webb said.
He wants to bring healthcare to the roughly 30 million Americans who don’t have coverage. And to help those whose health problems are caused by poverty.
He also points out he has worked for both Presidents Trump and Obama.
“I had seen in both administrations all the different ways government could help improve the lives of people. And then I’m coming back in my patients that I’m taking care of, I’m seeing folks with diabetes or heart disease I’m saying well that is a problem with actually food insecurity we need to work on the food issue.”
Webb promises to push hard for rural broadband. He wants more equality for women, and more efforts to combat global warming. He wants to invest in fixing crumbling roads and bridges and would not mind diverting some military spending to other projects. He’s against the border wall and wants a pathway to citizenship for dreamers.
As to the tension between blacks and whites in America? Webb says he can be a consensus builder.
“It’s that idea of opportunity for everyone to succeed and so really we just need to be better at having the conversation. It’s not a matter of tension between blacks and whites it’s a matter of attention in our country about ensuring that promise of opportunity to everybody,” Webb said.
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