Another Democrat has announced a bid to unseat Republican John McGuire in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District, and this one is taking members of her own party to task for not addressing the income inequality that has left so many Americans and Virginians struggling to afford bare essentials.
“This isn’t entirely about him,” Adele Stichel said of McGuire in an exclusive interview with The Daily Progress on Tuesday.
“We have failed to address economic issues. We have failed to address economic inequality,” she said. “I really think that it’s been an unwillingness to confront those issues because folks are uncomfortable, because it’ll upset their donors. They don’t want to upset powerful corporations.”
In an ever-growing field of Democrats hoping to defeat McGuire at the polls next year — with three candidates officially declared and one who has expressed interest — Stichel said she thinks taking on corporations and the billionaire class will set her apart from other Democrats who have curried favor with them or kept quiet out of fear of provoking them.
“I think that’s cowardly. I think I think it’s unfortunate. That’s a big part of why I want to be different,” she said.
Stichel, a University of Virginia Law School graduate and a former attorney with the white-shoe law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton in New York, may not be the traditional anti-establishment candidate.
She said when she was working at Debevoise & Plimpton she “paid a pretty huge chunk of my income on the taxes,” which she called “entirely appropriate.”
“We also have people who are making millions of dollars — 10, 20 million dollars a year — who are paying a fraction of what most people, including people who are doing pretty well, pay in taxes,” she added.
The top 10% of the country’s wealthiest households now own 67.2% of the country’s wealth, while the bottom half of the population owns only 2.5%, according to the Federal Reserve.
“Our government is going to fall apart if we expect lower- and middle-class folks to shoulder the vast majority of the burden of funding our government,” Stichel said. “We have a society in which we are not asking corporations and billionaires to pay their fair share. We’re not requiring them to do it, and as a result, we also have the corporate powers out of control.”
With the lower classes fronting so much of the costs of keeping the country running, she said, they can’t afford housing, health care and education.
“Central Virginians are working harder than ever, yet most people can’t get ahead. Prices and housing costs keep going up. Health care costs are rising dramatically, while insurance companies make patients jump through an ever-increasing number of hoops to actually get care,” Stichel said in a statement announcing her candidacy. “It doesn’t have to be this way. We can make it easier for Central Virginians to buy houses, support families, and start small businesses. We can come together and demand a system that serves all of us. I’ve always stood up for what’s right, and I’m ready to take that fight to the halls of Congress.”
Stichel has an uphill battle ahead of her.
The sprawling 5th District is a sea of deep red extending from Charlottesville to the North Carolina border, from Lynchburg to the Richmond suburbs. It has been a Republican stronghold since 2011.
Moreover, Stichel has not always been a permanent resident of the district, previously splitting her time between Charlottesville and New York.
“I’ve continued to live here and spend as little time in New York,” she said, “because I just really love this part of the world and my community is here.”
Stichel added that she has been an active legal observer — a member of the National Lawyers Guild attending public demonstrations to document potential violations of protesters’ rights and serving as a neutral witness in case legal action is needed — since the fatal Unite the Right rally-turned-riot in 2017.
Stichel joins three other Democrats who have officially announced their candidacies: Crozet resident and U.S. Army veteran Paul Riley; civil rights attorney and U.S. Navy veteran Albemarle County Supervisor Mike Pruitt; and Lynchburg resident and executive coach Kate Zabriskie.
Lynchburg physician Dr. Suzanne Krzyzanowski has expressed interest in running but has yet to officially announce.
Riley came last in the 2024 Democratic primary elections, with 20% of the vote. He faced off against Gary Terry, a Kentucky-born resident of the Danville area who serves as CEO of the Boys & Girls Club there, and Gloria Witt, an Amherst County executive coach and head of the NAACP there. Witt was the eventual nominee, falling to McGuire on Election Day with a 57.5%-to-42.5% final tally.
On the right, McGuire is seeking reelection and could face his predecessor, Bob Good, in a primary next year. Good has filed paperwork to run, but has said he is still considering his options.
Good’s loss to McGuire in last year’s GOP primary election was pinned on his refusal to immediately endorse President Donald Trump’s 2020 bid for the White House. Good first backed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis before DeSantis dropped out of the race.
David Velazquez (919) 612-7026
david.velazquez@dailyprogress.com
@velazqdave on X
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