Geary Higgins, a Virginia State Representative for the 30th District, has issued a statement addressing accusations made by his opponent in the ongoing campaign. Higgins emphasized the importance of honesty and transparency in political discourse.
“You may disagree with me on some issues, and I may disagree with you as well, but at the end of the day, we are fighting for what we believe is right. We both live here together and share a common identity and responsibility as Americans, Virginians, and stewards of this beautiful district,” Higgins stated.
He continued, “I truly believe my opponent would be a disaster for this district and for our Commonwealth, and in this campaign, I will tell you why. I will make the case for myself and our shared continued success.”
Higgins addressed recent claims made against him: “What I will not do is lie to you about my opponent. Everything I say will be thoroughly researched and grounded in hard facts. This is for two reasons—one, because I respect you as an intelligent voter and do not believe you will be fooled by a lie; and two, as a God-fearing man, I believe lying is immoral and wrong.”
Referring to his opponent’s first advertisement, Higgins said: “What my opponent did in his first ad is dishonest, unacceptable, and I will not stand for it—he is lying to you and defaming me. Let me set the record straight, and you can decide for yourself.”
Higgins denied any involvement or financial gain from data center projects: “I have never pushed data centers, I have never supported them where they do not belong, and I have never ‘profited’ from any data center, in any way, shape, or form. In fact, as your Delegate, I am actively working on arming local governments with more tools for proper data center siting, addressing our power crisis, ensuring data centers are paying their freight, and preserving our rural district.”
He also discussed his voting record: “To begin with, I have spent my entire political career fighting to make sure data centers are not built where they do not belong, and any insinuation otherwise is false. I have never voted for or supported the building of data centers near homes, historic sites, conservation easements, schools, or land zoned for rural or agricultural uses. I do not support that, and I will never support that.”
Higgins pointed to specific votes during his time as Supervisor in Loudoun County: “In fact when I was a Supervisor in Loudoun ,I voted against the True North data center project in Loudoun’s ‘transition zone’ along the Dulles Greenway where it crosses Goose Creek. I also stopped a proposed rezoning assemblage just north of there that was brought to me and made it clear that I would not support any data center rezonings in the ‘transition policy area’.”
He criticized claims regarding past zoning decisions: “My opponent filmed his commercial standing in front of,and giving me credit for,the Loudoun Meadows/Quail Ridge data center projects ,where data centers have been built right behind single-family homes .What he doesn’t tell you is that this terrible zoning decision was made by a previous Board of Supervisors in 2005,seven years before I was elected,and the houses were not built until after the rezoning.”
“Anyone who knows me or my record would know that Quail Ridge is something I would never support—it should never have happened,and I would strongly oppose any similar project in the future,” he added.
On allegations of personal profit from data centers,Higgins responded: “Second,the accusation that I have ‘personally profited’ from the Data Centers is categorically false and frankly libelous.I have never received any compensation ,financial or otherwise,directly or indirectly ,from the building of data centers.”
Explaining his professional background,Higgins said:”From his shoddy ‘citations’,it appears my opponent is citing my career in labor relations for the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA)for this absurd,false claim.I retired five and a half years ago from NECA,a trade association that represents electrical contractors employing union labor.My title was Vice President of Labor Relations,and my job was to represent the contractors in collective bargaining and arbitration with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.”
“NECA member contractors perform residential ,commercial,institutional ,transit ,communications ,light industrial,and industrial electrical work.I brought the two sides togetherand helped negotiate good-paying jobs for hard-working menand women.I was a salaried employee focused entirely on labor relations,and my income wasin no way related tothe marketsa member chose topursue.No serious personwould construe thatI benefitedfromanydata center.Myopponentisnot onlyattackingmewiththisclaim,buthe’sattackinghardworking ,blue-collar laborersacrossourdistrict,” he continued.
Discussing changes since leaving office,Higgins stated:”Next ,let’s talk about whydata center square footagehas explodedinLoudoun .Thanks tothe current Democrat majority board,data center square footage has more than doubled sinceI leftthe BOS five years ago.ThisisthesamestorynextdoorinPrinceWilliamCounty.Virtuallyallofthesebaddecisionsondata centerplacementhavebeenmadebythesetwoDemocratcontrolledBoardssinceIleftLoudoun’sBoard.Nowasdatacentersarefallingoutoffavorwiththepublictheyarerunningforcoverlikecockroacheswhenthelightscomeoninthekitchen.Myopponentwouldbenodifferent.Ihavefoundnoevidenceofhimopposingdatacentersuntilhedecidedtorunforoffice.”
On energy policy,Higgins said:”Myopponentlikestotalkaboutourlackofpowerandblamethedatacenters,buthe‘proudly’proclaimsthathehelpedtopassthe‘VirginiaCleanEconomyAct’.ThislegislationhascausedVirginiatobecomethe#1stateforimportingpowerinthenation.”
“Whiletheyliketoblamedatacentersforthisdubiousdistinction,themainreasonisthatthislawhasforcedourpowercompaniestoshutdown11，000MWofpowergenerationwithoutaviablereplacement.Thisis33%morepowerthanisneededtopowereveryhouseinVirginia,andtheseshutdownshavecausedustoimportpowerfromotherstatesthathaveexcesscapacity，likeWVAandPA.Myopponent’sbackersrefusetoadmitthatthispoweroriginatesfromfossil-fuelplantsandcausesthecollateraldamageofhavingtobuildnewpowerlinesthroughourruralandagriculturalareastoimportit.”
“MyopponentworkedforCleanVirginia,themulti-milliondollarleft-wingclimategroupthathasswampedourelectionwithdarkmoney,andhehasbeenendorsedbyeveryextremeenvironmentalgroupthatyoucanthinkof，includingthe‘JaneFondaPAC’.Theseextremegroupshaveproducedthisdisastrousenergypolicythateliminatesallpowerotherthanrenewables.Renewablesarenice,andwhodoesn’tlikecleanenergy,buttheyarejustnotreliableandabsolutelycannotreplacebaseloadpowergeneration.”
Higgins highlighted legislation he supported earlier this year:”Further,IproudlyvotedearlierthisyearforHB2084，whichdirectstheStateCorporationCommission(SCC)todeterminewhetherornotdatacentersshouldbepayingmorefortheirpower,giventheinfrastructureupgradesthey may require.Weneedt o take abigpicturelookatthedatacenterindustryandwe ightaxrevenuebenefitstheybringagainsttheircostsonthegrid.Then,wecanmakesuretheyarepayingtheirownway,andnotburdeningrate-payerslikeyouandmewiththeir costs.”
He reaffirmed his stance on preservation:”Finally ,asIsaidabove,Ihavenevervotedforsupporteddatacentersinthewrongplacesandneverwill.NoonehasabetterpreservationandconservationrecordontheBoardofSupervisorsorintheGeneralAssemblythanmine,andIhavealwaysbeencommittedtopreservingthebeautyofourruraldistrict.”
Regarding state versus local control over zoning decisions,Higgins argued:”Myopponentwilltrytoarguethatthestateneedstotakeoverzoningauthoritytostopdatacenters,butwhathewon’ttellyouisthathisbackersarealreadyusingthatsameframeworktoforcesolararraysonyouragriculturallandsandacrossyourviewsheds.WehavealreadyseenandnarrowlydefeatedbillsinRichmondthatwouldoverridelocalzoningandcoverourruralandagriculturallandswithbig，uglysolararrays.Myopponent’semployersandonorswerebehindthesebillstoforcesolararraysacrossourdistrict.”
“WhyshouldwebelieveJohnMcAuliffwon’tcoverWesternLoudounandFauquierinsolararraystosavehisprecious‘CleanEconomyAct’，whenallofhistopsupportersare100%behindthiseffort?”
“IfirmlybelievelocalzoningdecisionsshouldbemadebycompetentofficialselectedatthelocallevelandidvotedforHB1601togivelocalgovernmentsmoretoolstopreventdatacentersfromsprawlingintoplacesthey donotbelong.Idonotbelievethata bunchofunaccountablebureaucratsorpoliticianswholiveinArlingtonorelsewhereshouldbemakinglocalzoningdeterminationsoutofRichmondonbehalfofourdistrict.Zoningdecisionsshouldnotbebasedonpoliticalorthodoxyor rhetoric;theyshouldbebasedonrepresentingyourconstituentsandfacts，reason，andresearch.Weneedelectlocalofficialswhohavethecouragetojustsay‘No’!”
“Byaffirmingstronglocalzoning,wecanpreventbaddatacentersistingandkeepsolararraysoutofourdistrict.Byeliminatingthefalsepowerconstraintsinthe‘VirginiaCleanEconomyAct’，wecangeneratemorecleanpowerrighthereinourCommonwealth.Bythoroughlyanalyzingthewholepictureofdatacenterpowerdemandsagainsttaxrevenues,wecanensuretheyarepayingtheirfairshare.”
