Beth Macy had no inclination to run for office when she began taking part in protests outside Congressman Ben Cline’s office in Roanoke a year-and-a-half ago. She and her fellow protesters were upset with Cline for his unabashed support for the newly reelected president, whose policies she felt were taking the country in the wrong direction, and for Cline’s refusal to meet with his critics.
“They [her fellow protesters] started asking me to run last spring [in 2025],” she recalls. “I said, ‘I don’t want to run for office. I want to write one or two more books and become a Master Gardener. I want to enjoy my life.”
But then, “when the one ugly bill passed, with Ben Cline’s help, my husband and I were talking about it, and decided we just can’t stand by. It’s going to be horrific for people who suffer from substance use disorder. Three hundred thousand Virginians are going to lose Medicaid, after the mid-terms, which I think is diabolical. We’re already seeing hunger on a level in the Sixth District and elsewhere that we’ve never seen before.”
So, this past November, she decided to declare her candidacy. The veteran investigative journalist who worked for The Roanoke Times for 25 years and who has written several bestselling books, including “Factory Man” and “Dopesick,” doesn’t do anything half-way. Even though she’s running in a decidedly red district that hasn’t had a Democratic congressman in 33 years, Macy says she’s in the race to win, to flip the seat as part of what she hopes is a blue wave that would give Democrats control of Congress.
“ I d on’t u nderstand t aking food off the plates of children to make wealthy people even wealthier,” she declares. “I can’t compute that with the teachings of Jesus. I can’t compute that with basic decency. So, I decided to fight back. If I have some level of name recognition, if people know me as a fighter and an investigative journalist, I think Congress could really use an investigative journalist right now. If I can help, this would be my civic duty to throw my name in the ring, or hat, whatever the cliche is.”
She said she’s all-in on singlepayer health care. “I’ve already signed up, promised to support Medicare for all, which we know would save a trillion dollars annually and 114,000 lives. And, of course, Ben Cline is totally against that. He’s swimming in corporate PAC money, including many health insurance donations. So, I think it’s a nobrainer.”
Supporting veterans is another priority of hers. “I spend a lot of time with veterans. I’m the daughter of a veteran, a World War II veteran, who didn’t get the services that he needed. We struggled because of that. I’m very worried that Cline and company want to privatize the VA, which says it right there in Project 2025.” VA cuts began with DOGE (the Department of Government Efficiency), she said, and continued with the One Big Beautiful Bill. A veteran of the Gulf War suffering from PTSD came up to her after a town hall meeting in Salem and told her he never sees the same health care providers each time he goes to the VA Center because of staff cuts. She said veterans suffering from Agent Orange and burn pit exposures aren’t getting the care they need because of the cuts.
Having spent 15 years studying problems stemming from opioid addiction and Big Pharma’s role in it, Macy said she’d like to serve on the committee overseeing Health and Human Services. From her reporting, she said, “I have some really good ideas about solutions. I went all over the country writing about places that were doing evidence-based care. So, I know of a lot of really good models that should be done nationwide, particularly ones that would help people in prisons and jails get access to care. … You know, you don’t hear as much about it [anymore], but [drug addiction] is still the number one killer of people in their 20s and 30s, especially men who haven’t gone to college. And, really, it spares no one.”
She said she’s very discouraged about the Trump administration’s immigration policies, particularly the practices of Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE], that she notes Cline fully supports. She alluded to a recent raid in Harrisonburg in which 937 people were detained by ICE. “Many of them have children who now either have no parents watching them or one parent. It’s really a crisis. The teachers up there are under a lot of stress.”
ICE was created in response to the 9/11 attacks, she said, and back then, “they treated people humanely.” She said she’s talked to retired ICE officers who are very upset with the agency’s current practices. Due process is ignored in the administration’s zeal to increase the numbers of immigrant arrests. She notes with pride that she received the endorsement of National Security Leaders for America, which is composed of retired senior military officials.
Macy points to her endorsement by End Citizens United as evidence that she is serious about wanting to remove big money from politics. The organization’s name is a reference to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that opened up the floodgates of “dark money” pouring into campaigns. She doesn’t accept PAC donations and she favors legislation that will eliminate the revolving door between elected officials and lobbying organizations. She says both Republicans and Democrats have been guilty of this practice that she hopes to end.
Soaring inflation, especially high gas prices caused by the war in Iran, as well as the Trump administration’s tariff policies are issues she wants to see Congress address. Self-dealing, such as the president and his family enriching themselves by $2 billion in the past two years while Congress sits idly by, is another issue that she believes needs attention. She wants to bring greater transparency and more stringent regulations to data centers.
Macy believes both parties should work together to solve these various issues just as America needs to work with its allies if it’s going to confront today’s many challenges such as climate change and the wars in Iran and Ukraine. “There are so many things wrong right now,” she remarked. She hopes to play a role in setting things right.
