9th District Candidate Joy Powers (D)
Candidate Website: https://www.joyforva.com/
Candidate Questionnaire from Radio IQ:
Where in Virginia do you live?
Bedford County
What is your current job? How would you describe your career?
Cattle Farmer and Small Business Owner
List any college degrees or professional certifications you hold.
I studied Agricultural Technology and Animal Systems at Virginia Tech, leaving before graduation to run the family farm and tractor dealership when my grandfather fell ill.
Have you served in an elected or appointed political office before? When, where and in
what position?
I have not previously held elected office. I have served on the Bedford County Agricultural Economic Development Advisory Board, an advisory board whose members are appointed by the Bedford County Board of Supervisors, and I have also served as Superintendent of the Bedford County Fair.
Please describe any ways you’ve used generative artificial intelligence in your campaign (to produce mailers, signs, develop a website, public statements, etc.)
We have used generative AI as a brainstorming and drafting tool, including helping organize information and create early drafts of some communications. All of our public-facing materials are reviewed and edited by campaign staff, and we do not treat AI as a substitute for factual verification or human judgment.
What should constituents know about you?
I am a fourth-generation cattle farmer, small business owner, mother, and longtime member of the Bedford County community. I have spent my life around agriculture, small businesses, 4-H and FFA, and I adopted my son through foster care; all of those experiences shape how I approach public service and the challenges facing rural families in the 9th District.
Congress-Level Questions
In a word or phrase, tell us: What do you think your race is about?
Rooted representation. I believe the 9th District deserves a representative who lives with the consequences of the decisions made in Washington and puts practical solutions for the people who live here ahead of party politics.
How should the federal government address the ongoing affordability challenges?
I believe that Washington should focus on the costs it can actually influence. Those being housing, energy, healthcare, food and the lack of competition in increasingly consolidated markets. I would support efforts for stronger action against corporate consolidation and price-gouging, ensuring large industrial power users, including data centers, pay for the infrastructure they require, expanding rural housing supply and strengthening regional food systems so families are not paying more simply because they live in rural America.
What is one topic you think the current Congress has failed to address, and why?
Rural healthcare is a topic the current Congress has failed to address. In June, a state report found that 13 of Virginia’s rural hospitals are at risk of closure, with nearly half of those in the 9th District. Too many of our communities are losing maternity care, clinics and other essential services while rural hospitals operate on extremely thin margins, and Congress has not adequately designed reimbursement policy around the realities of providing healthcare in sparsely populated areas. I would support efforts to protect 340B, reform rural reimbursement formulas and provide greater stability for rural hospitals and clinics.
What do you see as Congress’ role in acting as a check and balance on the other branches of the federal government?
Congress should never surrender its constitutional responsibilities to a president of either party. That means meaningful oversight, controlling federal spending through the power of the purse, protecting individual rights and making sure executive power remains within the law and the Constitution.
What kinds of proposals should Congress consider as data centers become more common nationwide?
Our communities deserve a say before the bulldozers show up. Before more data centers break ground, Congress should set clear rules on environmental impact, job impacts, and community input. I will support a temporary moratorium on data centers nationwide.
On what issues do you see yourself cooperating with the other party? What approach do you both share with regard to that issue?
I will work with anyone who is willing to help the Ninth District. Rural healthcare, agriculture, veterans' services, broadband, infrastructure and workforce training are all areas where practical solutions do not have to belong to one party, and my approach is to start with whether a proposal actually improves life in the communities I represent.
Do you support Congressman Hakeem Jeffries or Congressman Mike Johnson for House speaker?
I do not support either Congressman Jeffries or Congressman Johnson for speakers. The American people need new, solution minded leadership focused on delivering for working families.
What trade policy changes do you think the next Congress should pursue?
Trade policy should strengthen American producers without raising the cost of the fuel, fertilizer, equipment and other inputs they need to stay in business. I oppose trade fights that unnecessarily increase costs or shut family farmers out of export markets, and I would focus on fair access to markets and policies that put independent producers on a more level playing field with large corporations.
Where do you stand on abortion, and do you believe there’s a role for federal legislation in regulating abortion?
I believe reproductive healthcare decisions should be made by patients and their healthcare providers, not politicians, and I support protecting access to reproductive healthcare at the federal level.
If elected, how would you use your position to help alleviate the housing crisis in your district, Virginia and nationally?
Rural housing requires a different approach than housing policy designed for metropolitan areas. My HOME plan would update USDA Section 502 loan limits to reflect current costs, help renovate vacant Main Street buildings and other existing structures into workforce housing, and invest in water and sewer infrastructure where the lack of utilities prevents new homes from being built.
How do you personally use artificial intelligence in your life? What specific regulations do you propose for companies producing AI?
AI is integrated into some of our small business vendors services and we also use it to sort through production data off the farm. As a personal principle I do not use AI to create or make decisions.
Regulation is long over due. Job loss because of AI is a huge threat to every family and community in this country. We also need protections and regulations with the ability to shut down AI that becomes a threat immediately. Additionally, we must put strict limits and consequences for the use of AI in industries such as child pornography.
Foreign Policy Questions
What is your stance on the United States’ foreign policy with Israel?
Our foreign policy should be made in Washington, in the interest of the American people, not handed over to a foreign government or the groups that carry its water. Your representative should answer to the people of this district, and no one else. And I do not think American families should keep paying for what Benjamin Netanyahu's government is doing. He is under an international arrest warrant for alleged war crimes. We send Israel's government billions in weapons and taxpayer dollars every year with almost no conditions and no accountability, and I would end that. I do not believe families here, the ones struggling to afford groceries and keep their hospitals open, should be footing that bill.
What is your stance on the United States’ foreign policy with Iran?
I believe the war in Iran is an unauthorized, unconstitutional war of choice that Congress never voted to approve. American service members should not be sent into another open-ended conflict in the Middle East without the consent of the people’s representatives, especially while American families and farmers are being asked to absorb the economic costs.
What is your stance on the United States’ foreign policy with Ukraine?
Russia’s invasion violated Ukraine’s sovereignty, and Ukraine has a right to defend itself.
What is your stance on the United States’ foreign policy with China?
The United States should compete with China by rebuilding our own manufacturing base, protecting American intellectual property and critical supply chains, and enforcing fair trade rules without making American farmers and working families bear the cost of an indiscriminate trade war.
Virginia-Level Questions
What is your stance on the use of Flock or other automatic license plate readers in your district?
I have serious concerns about allowing automatic license plate readers to become a system of mass location surveillance without meaningful public oversight. Law-enforcement technology should be narrowly used for legitimate public-safety purposes, with clear limits on retention and sharing of location data and transparency about who has access to it.
What is the largest issue facing your district right now, and how would you work to address it from Washington, DC?
The biggest challenge is whether working people can still afford to build a life and stay here. That means addressing the connected problems of healthcare access, housing, energy and grocery costs, good-paying jobs, childcare and infrastructure rather than treating each as an isolated issue; that is the purpose of my H.O.M.E. Plan.
How would you plan to work or collaborate with the Spanberger administration?
I would work with the Spanberger administration wherever state and federal efforts can complement each other, particularly on rural healthcare, housing, and workforce development.
The administration is already pursuing rural-health investments in Southwest Virginia, and as a member of Congress I can help make sure federal programs and dollars are coordinated with those state efforts rather than working at cross-purposes.
A hospital or multiple health care centers in your district are at risk of service cuts/closure due to Medicaid changes. How would you advocate for your district’s health and wellness?
I would make rural hospital stability an immediate priority. My H.O.M.E. Plan protects 340B savings for Critical Access Hospitals, creates a rural reimbursement adjustment that accounts for distance, provider shortages and uncompensated care, and proposes safeguards against federal changes that would push already-fragile hospitals into negative operating margins.
Where do you stand on the pending Dominion Energy–NextEra merger?
I have serious concerns about further consolidation in an industry where families already have little choice and are facing rising power bills. Any merger should face rigorous review and enforceable protections ensuring that merger costs, data-center infrastructure costs and other large-load expenses are not shifted onto residential ratepayers.
As a Virginian, what are your thoughts on Ballot Question 1?
I support Question 1.
As a Virginian, what are your thoughts on Ballot Question 2?
I support Question 2.
As a Virginian, what are your thoughts on Ballot Question 3?
I support Question 3.
How confident are you that the 2026 Virginia midterm elections will be free and fair?
I have my concerns that there will be interference in the election. We’re already seeing the Supreme Court have to weigh in and an attempt to buy votes.
Who won the 2020 presidential election?
Joe Biden