What John McGuire did this week: Nov 8-15
Plus, updates on his financial situation and campaign donors.
Happy Saturday! Here’s a quick look at Rep. McGuire’s activities this week:
Was named an AbilityOne Congressional Champion “for my work to expand job opportunities for Americans facing disabilities and opportunities for our nation’s veterans.”
Was quickly lambasted in comments on his post:
“Is this some sort of parody? 😂😂 C’mon now — are they not aware of the cuts and loss of benefits you personally voted for? This has got to be some sort of parody to bring your guilt to surface, no?”
“What a joke. You’re ending job training programs, you’re taking away housing for the homeless, you’re stripping people of healthcare, you’re taking food from children & the elderly. You deserve no awards or recognition.”
“Please provide the text and results to date of the legislation you’ve sponsored and passed regarding veterans since you’ve been in Congress. Please provide details about the number of new jobs for veterans in your district that you assisted in creating, when that happened and where these jobs are located. Your staff doesn’t seem to know. Thanks.”
Met with a lobbyist for veterans and their families.
Was quickly lambasted in comments on his post:
“ACA subsidies would be of support? Secondarily you could not gut the VA?”
“You could support us by not raising our healthcare costs, closing our commissaries, and firing VA staff.”
Voted to end the shutdown. “Last night, I voted to reopen the government for the American people. This vote ensured we finally paid service members, federal workers, and resume critical services for our farmers and struggling American families.”
Was quickly lambasted in comments on his post:
“It will pay. It hasn’t paid (past tense). Additionally you were on district work since September 19th and had zero in person town halls. You have yet to actually represent us”
“What about healthcare costs for the American people? What are you going to do about that?”
Appeared in a he said / he said interview on 29News that shed no light on what was actually at stake in the shutdown. He explained that the shutdown “creates anger and anger gets people to the polls.” It sure does, Congressman! The MAGA party would know.
Was quickly lambasted in comments… just kidding. Nobody’s commented. The story only has 59 views on YouTube and I’m probably four of them.
I have nothing to add on the shutdown
Except this: I get why people are pissed at Tim Kaine for voting to end it. But remember there’s a chance that McGuire and the rest of the House will vote on extending the healthcare subsidies that were the sticking point of the shutdown—the ones that 37,000 of McGuire’s constituents rely on.
I haven’t found any public statements by McGuire about his stand on the subsidies, but his history doesn’t make me optimistic that he’ll vote for them. So he’ll need some nudging.
To paraphrase Barack Obama: Don’t boo. Nudge!
Okay, I’ll never earn a living as a speechwriter…
An update on McGuire’s financial situation…
Back in April, I flagged a great Hunter Index post pointing out that McGuire was the only member of Congress not to have failed his legally required financial disclosure. The last person to fit that description? George Santos.
Looks like McGuire filed the following month, on May 13. These seem to be the key points:
He and his wife, real estate agent Tracy McGuire, own two rental properties in Richmond and Henrico County that each generated between $15K and $50K in income last year.
Tracy McGuire owns a business called House in the Woods, which generated between $100K and $1 million last year. The address listed for House in the Woods matches a 22-acre property in Manakin Sabot with a 4,500-square foot, 4-bedroom/6-bathroom house that Zillow values at $1.4 million. (The address is a matter of public record, but I’m not publishing it.)
John McGuire’s business, Seal Training PT, generated between $50K and $100K last year.
He owns stock in UnitedHealth—which is perfectly legal but notable, given that he sits on a subcommittee that regulates health care. He also owns owns shares of Meta, Netflix, and ServiceNow and has a retirement portfolio with a broad range of funds.
His only listed liabilities are three mortgages, presumably for the two rentals and a personal home. I guess “voting against the interests of your constituents” is not, technically speaking, a liability.
You can see his main disclosure here.
…and campaign finances.
Here’s the FEC’s list of political donations to McGuire this year. Interesting reading if you have the time and inclination. The top individual donors—at $25,000 each—are Michael Kehoe, who runs Richmond-based Kinsale Insurance, and Ben Davenport of Chatham-based Davenport Energy. Other big donors include Florida retiree Dave Flory ($15,500), Farmers Livestock Exchange VP John Good ($15,300), and Lawrence Page of Page Auto Group in Richmond ($15,000).
I didn’t realize individuals could give such big amounts. Turns out there’s a thing called a joint fundraising committee, which can raise unlimited money and then divvy it up among a candidate’s other committees, where the usual financial limits apply. The more you know!
—Boot
Can you talk about the likelihood of McGuire’s district being changed and ways that could shake out?