WASHINGTON 鈥� Attorney General Mark Herring and challenger John Adams, former federal prosecutor and clerk with the U.S. Supreme Court, wasted no time going after one another in the final debate before the Nov. 7 election.
鈥淭o me, this job isn鈥檛 about politics. It鈥檚 about serving your fellow Virginia,” said Herring, a Democrat from Loudoun County, on Friday. “But for John, he has a different view. He wants to be a lawyer for the Republican caucus down in Richmond.”
Adams, a Republican who has never run for office, defended his aspirations.
鈥淚 am running to get the politics out of the attorney general鈥檚 office,” said Adams, a VMI graduate who served in the Navy. He accused Herring of pushing his own personal political views instead of being the lawyer for Virginia and for its residents.
鈥淔or the attorney general鈥檚 office to be so politicized, that it鈥檚 not we the people who choose our laws through our elected representatives but it鈥檚 an attorney general鈥檚 office that forces its view on the citizens 鈥� that is just wrong,” Adams said.
Herring said that one of his big successes as attorney general is the work that he and his office have done on battling the opioid crisis. He said his office has put together a comprehensive response.
鈥淲e stepped up prosecutions against dealers and traffickers who bring these dangerous drugs into Virginia,” said Herring. He added that his office also helped pass the 鈥淕ood Samaritan Law” that protects those who report overdoses and that he created the documentary 鈥�.鈥�
But Adams shot back.
鈥淲hen your attorney general is running around doing political things all the time, bad things happen. The heroin/opioid crisis that he鈥檚 worked so hard to fix is spiraling out of control. It is getting much, much worse. Not better. Violent crime in the state is going through the roof in Virginia.鈥�
Herring said he鈥檚 fighting to get Virginians health care and blasted Adams for not wanting to cover people with pre-existing conditions and wanting to roll back the Affordable Care Act.
鈥淸Herring] loves to say that ‘John is against covering pre-existing conditions.’ I鈥檝e never said any such thing and that鈥檚 not what I believe at all,鈥� Adams answered. 鈥淎ll Virginians need access to affordable health care, quality health care, including those with pre-existing conditions. Herring believes in a centralized government process, a government-run health care program. I believe we can achieve those results through a private insurance operating in a free market. We just have different political views on it.鈥�
The debate was held by the Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce, at the National Conference Center in Leesburg.
